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Updated: Jul 24, 2026

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters
Published on: January 9, 2014
Molecular recognition remolds the self-assembly of hydrogelators and increases the elasticity of the hydrogel by
Yan Zhang1, Zhimou Yang, Fang Yuan
1Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China.
Abstract:
Addition of vancomycin (1, the receptor) to the supramolecular hydrogel of self-assembled pyrene-d-Ala-d-Ala (2, the ligand) increases the storage modulus of the hydrogel of 2 by about 106-fold. Rheology, microscopy, and spectroscopy investigations suggest that the two-dimensional polymers, formed by the ligand-receptor interaction between 1 and 2, and the self-dimerization of 1, are mainly responsible for the observed dramatic increase in elasticity.
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