Tripodal tris-urea derivatives as gelators for organic solvents

Several new tripodal tris-urea derivatives are prepared and found to be efficient gelling agents for organic solvents. The structure and thermotropic properties of the gels are studied by electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and FT-IR spectroscopy. Remarkably, the range of solvents to be gelled can be tuned by the peripheral substituents.