Creation of novel double-helical silica nanotubes using binary gel system

Sugar-based gelator p-dodecanoyl-aminophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside 1 has been shown to self-assemble in the presence of p-aminophenyl glucopyranoside 2 into double-helical fibers with diameters of 3-25 nm and lengths of several micrometers. The sol-gel polymerization of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) was carried out using a binary gel system. The double-helical structure of the organic assemblies could be accurately transcribed into the silica structure. This result indicates that the amino group of the p-aminophenyl glucopyranoside acts as the efficient driving force to create novel double-helical silica nanotubes.