First bisphosphonate hydrogelators: potential composers of biocompatible gels

Recently, investigation of hydrogels has gained ever increasing attention mostly because of their biomedical and pharmaceutical properties, and novel hydrogelators are constantly studied to find functional applications. Bisphosphonates (BPs) are well-known compounds applicable in different fields but are mostly used in clinics as drugs for bone-related diseases. In this study, a novel class of BP-hydrogelators together with a BP-organogelator was found, and the gelating abilities of the compounds were studied. Several techniques to analyze the structure and the properties of the formed gels were used, including solid state ¹³C and ³¹P CPMAS and solution state NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, PXRD, thermoanalysis, as well as SEM.