USAXS study of influence of gelator polarity on organogel structure

Organogels, formed of polar and apolar glucose-based gelators with organic solvents, were studied using USAXS. The polarity was introduced by attaching the NO2 group to the gelator molecule. The USAXS data were processed using fractal analysis, pair distribution function and Guinier approximation. It was found that the number of molecules, i.e. also the size of the primary aggregates in these gels structure, were strongly dependent on the gelator polarity, while several other structural parameters, e.g. the shape of the aggregates and the mechanism of their aggregation to the secondary structure, remained unsusceptible to it.