Self-Assembly of Alkoxy-Substituted 1,3,5-Benzenetrisamides Under Controlled Conditions

Supramolecular nanofibers have a great potential to be used as gelating agents, polymer additives, and fibrous material for filtration purposes. To meet the requirements for practical and industrial applications on a large scale, e.g., production of filter media, it is desirable to develop supramolecular systems processable from environmentally friendly water-based solvent mixtures. Moreover, assessing processing parameters to control the micro-and nanofiber diameter is of vital importance. Therefore, an alkoxy-substituted 1,3,5-benzenetrisamide, N, N', N"-tris(1-(methoxymethyl) propyl) benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide is designed that can be self-assembled into supramolecular nanofibers upon cooling from a water/isopropanol solvent mixture. It is demonstrated that parameters such as stirring velocity and the temperature range during processing allow for a precise adjustment of the cooling profile which in turn enables the control of the supramolecular nanofiber diameters.