Water-Regulated Self-Assembly Structure Transformation and Gelation Behavior Prediction Based on a Hydrazide...

Herein, we report the water-regulated supramolecular self-assembly structure transformation and the predictability of the gelation ability based on an azobenzene derivative bearing a hydrazide group, namely, N-(3,4,5-tributoxyphenyl)-N'-4-[(4-hydroxyphenyl)azophenyl] benzohydrazide (BNB-t4). The regulation effects are demonstrated in the morphological transformation from spherical to lamellar particles then back to spherical in different solvent ratios of n-propanol/water. The self-assembly behavior of BNB-t4 was characterized by minimum gelation concentration, microstructure, thermal, and mechanical stabilities. From the spectroscopy studies, it is suggested that gel formation of BNB-t4 is mainly driven by intermolecular hydrogen bonding, accompanied with the contribution from π-π stacking as well as hydrophobic interactions. The successfully established correlation between the self-assembly behavior and solubility parameters yields a facile way to predict the gelation performance of other molecules in other single or mixed solvents.