Novel sugar-based azo dyes as multistimuli responsive supramolecular gelators and chemosensors

Abstract

Some novel sugar-based and multistimuli responsive supramolecular gelators, containing azobenzene moieties were synthesized and characterized through their microscopic, rheological, and spectroscopic measurements. The sol-gel behavior of these low molecular weight gelators in response to temperature, UV–Vis light irradiation, pH changes, and in the presence of various metal cations was investigated. Compounds 2b and 2d were found to be as supergelators (gelator concentration≤ 1%) in a mixture of DMF/H2O (1:1) and exhibited very good responses toward temperature, light, pH, and metal ions. Moreover, compound 2b showed selective gel-sol response toward Cu2+ among a wide variety of two and three-valent metal ions. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd