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oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/44159 2023-07-11 col_2142_5131 col_2142_11615 com_2142_5130 com_2142_9130 com_2142_8903

Copyright 2013 Nikola Dudukovic Self-Assembly Molecular gels Fmoc-diphenylalanine Dynamic localization theory Formation and mechanics of self-assembled molecular gels text Zukoski, Charles F. Dudukovic, Nikola 2013-05-24T21:52:58Z 2013-05-24T21:52:58Z 2013-05 2013-05-24T21:52:58Z 2013-05 Molecular gels are associated with the formation of space spanning structures produced by aggregation of low molecular weight molecules that associate through hydrogen bonding, π-stacking, acid base or van der Waals interactions. One specific type of gel forming molecule is based on a hydrophobic peptide – fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl diphenylalanine (Fmoc-FF). This thesis explores gels formed when water is added to Fmoc-FF dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). At high water concentrations, gels are formed at concentrations as low as 0.001%. We establish the gel line defining the Fmoc-FF and water concentrations where gels are formed. At fixed water concentration, over a narrow range of Fmoc-FF concentrations, solutions pass from being low viscosity liquids to a rigid material with elastic moduli G’ > 10^5 Pa. Here we characterize the kinetics of gelation and demonstrate that these gels are reversible in the sense that they can be disrupted mechanically and will rebuild strength over time. We attempt to understand the gelation process as arising from increasing strength of attraction between Fmoc-FF molecules with increasing water concentration. Furthermore, an effort is made to describe the underlying changes in strength of attraction leading to gelation and the mechanical behavior of the resulting gels using a dynamic localization theory. Item withdrawn by Mark Zulauf (zulauf@illinois.edu) on 2013-04-17T14:39:15Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dudukovic_Nikola.docx: 27457327 bytes, checksum: 89f5b9a691a921ddea0f975b79f4102a (MD5) Dudukovic_Nikola.pdf: 5446140 bytes, checksum: af18cc4ae093dce080a4cc5953556e69 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-24T21:52:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 5 Nikola_Dudukovic.pdf: 5447512 bytes, checksum: f63dcf9e90db409c3877e07c05a11aa1 (MD5) Dudukovic_Nikola.docx: 27458373 bytes, checksum: 06f86d815ba7ce0030248f5e1e332089 (MD5) 1_Dudukovic_Nikola.docx: 27458373 bytes, checksum: 06f86d815ba7ce0030248f5e1e332089 (MD5) 2_1_Dudukovic_Nikola.docx: 27458594 bytes, checksum: cad640bf9c026e6f9a17043ee23845a2 (MD5) license.txt: 4066 bytes, checksum: 780e531e044bd11e44422885f965cff3 (MD5) http://hdl.handle.net/2142/44159 en Chemical & Biomolecular Engr 1687 Chemical Engineering 0300 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Thesis M.S. PHD:Chemical Engineering -UIUC 10KS0300PHD