High organogelation ability and soft-templating for ultrathin Au nanowires of long-chain amidoamine derivatives.

Two kinds of long-chain amidoamine derivatives (C13A2AA and C17A2AA) bearing three amide moieties and terminal amine moieties were synthesized and their gelation abilities in apolar solvents were compared with the previously reported amidoamine gelator containing two amide moieties (C18AA). The derivatives acted as organogelators in the same organic solvents. XRD and FT-IR measurements revealed that C13A2AA and C17A2AA formed lamellar-like aggregates in the organogels, in which amide moieties were in the strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding state. In addition, C17A2AA was found to have an outstanding capacity as a soft template for Au nanowires, allowing the successful preparation of Au NWs at a low (0.3 wt%) concentration of [C17A2AA].