Gelation of fully acylated cellobiose in alkane solution

Cellobiose octa(decanoate), a discotic columnar mesogen, was found to form in hexadecane solution various molecular assemblies such as a lyotropic liquid crystal of discotic columnar type, multimolecular micelles, and a thermoreversible gel, depending on the concentration and temperature. The gelation, observed even at very low concentrations, say, <0.01 weight fraction of the mesogenic compound, is believed to proceed by local coagulation of long threadlike micelles into micro-liquid-crystallites, which work as cross-linking points combining the threadlike micelles. This will be a new type of gel that could be termed a ''liquid crystalline gel.''