Bio-Based Nanocomposites Composed of Photo-Cured Soybean-Based Resins and Supramolecular Hydroxystearic Acid Nanofibers

Abstract

Most of crystalline low molecular-weight organic compounds are recrystallized on cooling from hot solution of the organic compounds in appropriate solvents. However, in some cases, the hot solution becomes gelatinous meterial on cooling, which thermo-reversibly goes back to solution on the subsequent heating process, as is shown in Fig.1. The gelation is based on the formation of fibrous network structure over the whole range of the solvent via non-covalent (supramolecular) interactions between the low molecular-weight organic molecules. The structural characteristics of the low molecular-weight gelator are as follows: the presence of multiple functional groups capable of relatively weak physical molecular interactions such as van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic forces, π-π stacking, and London dispersion forces; asymmetrical, non-planar, and bulky structures which relate to the suppression of crystal packing.