Creation of Novel Double-Helical Silica Nanotubes Using Binary Gel System

Sugar-based gelator p -dodecanoyl-aminophenyl-β- d -glucopyranoside 1 has been shown to self-assemble in the presence of p -aminophenyl glucopyranoside 2 into double-helical fibers with diameters of 3−25 nm and lengths of several micrometers. The sol−gel polymerization of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) was carried out using a binary gel system. The double-helical structure of the organic assemblies could be accurately transcribed into the silica structure. This result indicates that the amino group of the p -aminophenyl glucopyranoside acts as the efficient driving force to create novel double-helical silica nanotubes.