The Supramolecular Organogel Formed by Self-Assembly of Ursolic Acid Appended with Aromatic Rings

Abstract

Ursolic acid (UA) as a natural ursane-triterpenoid has rich pharmacological activities. We have found that it possesses aggregation properties and could self-assemble into organogels. Based on the aggregation property of ursolic acid in suitable solvents, its derivative appended with aromatic rings by amide groups was synthesized. The property of self-assembly into organogel was studied in this paper. The results revealed that this derivative could form supramolecular gel in halogenated benzene and also gelate chloroform in the presence of toluene or p-xylene. By Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) and variable temperature proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), it was proved that intermolecular hydrogen bonding and π–π stacking interaction were the primary driving forces for the aggregation to form organogel.