Design and Properties of Novel Hydrophobic Natural Tea Saponin and Its Organogels.

It was first discovered that the excellent gelation ability of tea saponin can be obtained by introducing long-chain alkyl groups of dodecanoyl chloride into the glycosyl portion with direct esterification. The modified dodecanoyl chloride-tea saponin (DC-TS) was successfully synthesized and characterized with NMR, MS, and FT-IR. The tests showed that the long-chain alkyl group was successfully introduced.

Design and Properties of Natural Rosin-Based Phosphoester Functional Surfactants.

As an important forestry biomass resource, rosin has a wide range of applications in medicine, adhesives, surfactants and other fields. Using natural dehydroabietic acid as a raw material, dehydroabietic acid-based phosphorus monoester (DPM) and diester (DPD) surfactants were designed and synthesized. The chemical structures and self-assembly properties were characterized by FT-IR, NMR and TEM, and the effects of pH on critical micelle concentration, γ, emulsifying properties, foam properties and micelle morphology were studied.

Molecular Design, Supramolecular Assembly, and Excellent Dye Adsorption Capacity of Natural Rigid Dehydroabietic Acid-Tailored Amide Organogelators.

It is very appealing to synthesize functional soft materials from natural and abundant plant diterpenes because they have conformationally rigid and chiral properties. Herein, dehydroabietic-based monoamide (DA-1) and diamide (DA-2) were designed by introducing device interactions, π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding, with an aromatic group, C═O, and N-H. DA-1 and DA-2 can be gelled in a mixed solvent and a single solvent, respectively.

Wood-inspired nanocellulose aerogel adsorbents with excellent selective pollutants capture, superfast adsorption, and easy regeneration.

Heavy metal ions can cause a series of hazards to environment and humans. Herein, we developed a wood-inspired nanocellulose aerogel adsorbent with excellent selective capability, superfast adsorption, and easy regeneration. The premise for the design is that the biomimetic honeycomb architecture and specific covalent bonding networks can provide the adsorbent with structural and mechanical integrity yet superfast removal of target contaminants.