Development of Polymer Type of Gelators with Gelation-causing Segments

Abstract

Gels formed by low molecular weight gelators occasionally turn into crystals because of the metastable state. In order to improve the defect of low molecular weight gelators, we focused on polymers which can rarely be separated from solution as crystals due to the molecular weight distribution and the entanglement of polymer chain. We prepared polymer type of gelators by covalently attachment of gelation-causing segments on poly(olefin)s. The prepared polymer type of gelators formed physical gels in various solvents. The formed gels were very stable and the gel state remained even after one year. Properties of gelators were studied by gelation tests and the gelation mechanism was cleared by FT-IR, TEM, and FE-SEM.