Monopeptide-Based Powder Gelators for Instant Phase-Selective Gelation of Aprotic Aromatics and for Toxic Dye Removal.

Through a combinatorial screening of 35 possible phase-selective monopeptide-based organogelators readily made at low cost, we identified five of them with high gelling ability toward aprotic aromatic solvents in the powder form. The best of them (Fmoc-V-6) is able to instantly and phase-selectively gel benzene, toluene, and xylenes in the presence of water at room temperature at a gelator loading of 6% w/v. This enables the gelled aromatics to be separated by filtration and both aromatics and the gelling material to be recycled by distillation. We also identified Fmoc-I-16 as the best gelator for benzyl alcohol, and the corresponding organogel efficiently removes toxic dye molecules by 82-99% from their highly concentrated aqueous solutions. These efficient removals of toxic organic solvents and dyes from water suggest their promising applications in remediating contaminated water resources.