Langmuir
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Na2SO4, and then evaporated in vacuo to dryness. The crude product
was purified by silica gel flash column chromatography (petroleum
ether/EtOAc, 10/1) to give compound 6 (0.94 g, 1.59 mmol, 86%) as
Table 1. Gelation Experimental Results of Compound 1 in
Various Solvents at Room Temperature
a,b
1
solvent
hexane
gelation result
solvent
gelation result
a yellow solid: H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ 8.73−8.62 (m, 2H),
8.58−8.47 (m, 2H), 7.70 (d, J = 8.5 Hz, 2H), 7.67−7.55 (m, 4H), 6.97
(d, J = 8.6 Hz, 2H), 4.03 (t, J = 6.6 Hz, 2H), 1.88−1.78 (m, 2H),
1.52−1.45 (m, 2H), 1.28 (s, 16H), 0.88 (t, J = 6.6 Hz, 3H); 13C NMR
(101 MHz, CDCl3) δ 159.80, 134.04, 133.61, 133.24, 132.72, 127.95,
127.68, 126.67, 120.32, 115.30, 114.87, 106.62, 102.76, 84.89, 68.30,
32.08, 29.80, 29.76, 29.55, 29.52, 29.36, 26.18, 22.85, 14.28; EI-MS
(m/z) calcd for C34H37IO 588.19, found 588.19 [M]+.
I
m-xylene
pyridine
THF
OG (7.2)
cyclohexane
dichloromethane
chloroform
acetone
TG (9.6)
S
P
S
P
1,4-dioxane
ethyl acetate
ethanol
PG
I
OG (18.5)
benzene
OG (12.4)
P
OG (14.4)
chlorobenzene
toluene
DMSO
OG (8.6)
Synthesis of 7. This is described in the Supporting Information.
Synthesis of 1. To the mixture of compound 6 (0.88 g, 1.49
mmol), 7 (0.54 g, 1.79 mmol), CuI (5.68 mg, 0.03 mmol), and
Pd(PPh3)4 (17.3 mg, 0.015 mmol) were added anhydrous THF (40
mL) and TEA (20 mL) under argon. The reaction mixture was stirred
at 75 °C overnight under argon atmosphere and was monitored by
TLC. Upon completion, the solution was evaporated in vacuo to
dryness. The crude product was purified by silica gel flash column
chromatography (CH2Cl2/EtOAc, 10/3) to give compound 1 (1.09 g,
1.43 mmol, 96%) as a red solid: 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ 8.84−
8.62 (m, 2H), 8.44−8.33 (m, 2H), 7.80−7.60 (m, 6H), 6.99 (d, J = 8.1
Hz, 2H), 6.26 (s, 1H), 4.34−4.19 (m, 2H), 4.04 (t, J = 6.5 Hz, 2H),
2.00−1.78 (m, 4H), 1.58−1.06 (m, 36H), 0.87 (dt, J = 13.7, 6.8 Hz,
6H); 13C NMR (101 MHz, CDCl3) δ 160.21, 150.72, 138.99, 133.48,
132.95, 132.12, 131.65, 128.08, 127.94, 126.98, 126.02, 122.75, 114.99,
114.78, 113.61, 106.98, 105.12, 98.58, 92.19, 85.09, 68.39, 47.26,
46.49, 32.03, 29.70, 29.53, 29.47, 29.34, 29.21, 26.92, 26.16, 22.80,
14.23, 8.78; MALDI-TOF-MS (m/z) calcd for C52H64N2O3 764.50,
found 764.50 [M]+.
OG (6.8)
OG (5.4)
DMF
P
I
o-xylene
acetonitrile
a
TG, transparent gel; OG, opaque gel; PG, partial gel; P, precipitation;
b
S, soluble; I, insoluble when heated. The critical gelation
concentrations (CGC, mg mL−1) of gelators are shown in the
parentheses.
dimensional fibrous network. TEM images (Figure 1d−f) also
indicate that molecules of 1 are piled up to form cross-linking
network structures.
The interaction of 1 with anions (using their tetrabutylam-
monium salts as the sources) in the gel state was investigated in
DMSO solution. When excess tetrabutylammonium fluoride
was added to the hot DMSO solution of 1, the mixture was
cooled to a clear solution at room temperature instead of
forming a gel as it would form in its original state (Figures 2
and S1, Supporting Information). The transformation of gel-to-
sol is faster for compound 1 at high temperature than that at
the low temperature. Under the same condition, addition of
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
■
The synthesis of compound 1 started from 9,10-dibromoan-
thracence, which was reacted with 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol to
produce compound 3. In the presence of toluene, compound 3
was deprotected with NaH to give compound 4 in a yield of
93%. Then compound 4 was reacted with 2 to afford
compound 5 as a yellow solid, which was iodinated to give
compound 6 in 86% yield. Compound 6 and 7, synthesized
according to the literature35, were dissolved in THF and Et3N
and catalyzed by CuI and Pd(PPh3)4 to give compound 1 as the
product in 96% yield (the details are in the Supporting
−
−
−
other anions (Cl−, Br−, I−, ClO4 , AcO−, HSO4 , H2PO4 ) did
not trigger the gel-to-sol transition (Figure S1, Supporting
Information). More strikingly, the addition of fluoride ions
caused solution color changes from salmon pink to dark red
and fluorescence changes from yellow to green (Figure 2).
Other anions have no obvious effect on the absorption and
fluorescence spectra or the gel-to-sol transition (Figure S1,
Supporting Information), indicating the high selectivity of gel 1
toward fluoride ions by naked-eye sensing.
1
Information). All of the compounds were characterized by H
To examine the binding site of gel 1 and fluoride ions, we
determined the spectral change at a low concentration (1 ×
10−5 M) in DMSO. Compound 1 is strongly fluorescent in
DMSO solution with a maximum at 530 nm. Upon addition of
fluoride ions, however, 1 becomes weakly fluorescent and blue-
shifted to 498 nm (Figure S2, Supporting Information), and at
the same time the UV−vis absorption is blue-shifted from 465
to 455 nm accompanied by enhancement at 320 nm and
decrease at 340 nm (Figure 3a). After 20 equiv of fluoride ions
were added to the DMSO solution, the fluorescence spectra
and absorption spectra of compound 1 were saturated. The
decreased fluorescence intensity and blue-shifted absorption are
as a function of the concentration of fluoride ions. In the case of
other anions, alterations in the absorption and fluorescence
spectra were hardly observed (Figures 3b and S3, Supporting
Information). Similar results were also observed in CH2Cl2
(Figures S4−S6, Supporting Information). Clearly, only
fluoride ions could lead to the color and fluorescent changes
of the solution (Figure S7, Supporting Information).
and 13C NMR spectroscopy, as well as mass spectrometry.
The gelation ability of compound 1 was examined in various
solvents by means of the “stable to inversion of a test tube”
method (for more details see the Supporting Information). The
corresponding critical gelation concentrations (CGC) at room
temperature were also measured. As shown in Table 1,
compound 1 can gel aromatic solvents, such as benzene,
toluene, o-xylene, and m-xylene, while it is insoluble in hexane,
acetone, and acetonitrile, even after heating. These gels were
found to be stable in closed tubes for at least 3 months at 25
°C. The better gelation for aromatic solvents relative to the
hydrocarbon or halogenated hydrocarbons is probably due to
the enhancement of π−π interactions in aromatic solvents.5
The morphology of xerogels obtained from different solvent
(after evaporation of the solvent) was characterized by field-
emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Most of the
gels show an entanglement of fibrous aggregates. Figure 1a−c
shows the typical FE-SEM images of the xerogels upon
depositing the gels from cyclohexane, ethanol, and DMSO on
silicon wafers under identical conditions. Note that the
molecules in the gel phase were self-assembling into one-
dimensional fibers with a few micrometers long and 50−100
nm wide that further extended to form a large three-
The dramatic color changes may be interpreted by the fact
that the hydrogen atom on the N position of uracil moiety was
deprotonated by fluoride ions20 (Scheme 2), which sub-
sequently modulated intramolecular charge transfer from the
anthracene unit to the amide moiety of compound 1. This
C
dx.doi.org/10.1021/la304920j | Langmuir XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX