Crown-appended cholesterol gelators and transcription of their superstructures to silica gel

The design of artificial models of the 'biomineralization' processes utilizing sol-gel polymerization has resulted in the union of inorganic materials research and supramolecular organic chemistry. This review article introduces the application of crown-appended cholesterol gelators, which have been utilized as versatile building blocks in organogels and as templates for sol-gel transcription. Attention is focused on the use of self-assembled organic superstructures to the creation of novel inorganic materials with controlled morphologies.