A New Class of Phase‐Selective Synthetic β‐Amino Acid Based Peptide Gelator: From Mechanistic Aspects to Oil Spill Recovery

The mechanistic aspects of supramolecular ordering of synthetic β‐amino acid based peptides in different organic solvents and fuel oils are reported. The peptide Boc‐ cis ‐ACHC‐Aib‐Phe‐OMe (Boc= tert ‐butyloxycarbonyl, cis ‐ACHC= cis ‐2‐aminocyclohexanecarboxylic acid, Aib=α‐amino isobutyric acid, Phe=phenylalanine; 1 ) is able to entrap various organic solvents and oils, leading to the formation of self‐supporting gels. Spectroscopic studies confirm the turn‐type β‐sheet arrangement of peptide 1 in the gel phase. A morphology study shows that a bundle of nanofibers form from self‐assembled peptide 1 . Peptide 1 is capable of entrapping organic or oil layers selectively over the aqueous layer. Furthermore, the phase‐selective gelation behavior of peptide 1 is effectively used as a model study for oil spill recovery from a biphasic mixture of oil and water.