Small molecular gelling agents to harden organic liquids: alkylamide of N-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-valyl-L-valine

A long-chain alkylamide of N-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-valyl-L-valine 1 can cause physical gelation of a wide variety of organic liquids and harden them at very low concentrations; the fourier-transform infra-red (FTIR) spectra, and the thermodynamic parameters, suggest that the gel is built up through intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the N–H and CO groups of both the amide and urethane bonds; TEM (transmission electron micrographs) of the gels show that the networks consist of numerous fibres.