Small-angle X-ray scattering from a dual-component organogel to exhibit a charge transfer interaction

The structure of a dual-component organogel consisting of methyl 4,6-O-(p-aminobenzylidene)-α-D-glucopyranoside and methyl 4,6-O-(p-nitrobenzylidene)-α-D-glucopyranoside in diphenyl ether was investigated with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The individual components gelatinized the solvent to yield a colorless gel and the gel fiber consisted of the crystal, providing the crystalline peaks at the same diffraction angles as those of the solid samples. When the components were mixed in equimolar ratio and dissolved in diphenyl ether, a yellow gel was formed and the crystalline peaks disappeared. For all compositions, the SAXS profiles were well fitted by a cylinder model. The cross-sectional radius of gyration, r_c, was determined from the cross-sectional Guinier plot (qI vs q², where I and q are the scattering intensity and the magnitude of the scattering vector). The value of r_c reached a minimum of 3.0 nm at the equimolar composition. By correcting the data for the thermal scattering background, we obtained the entire SAXS profile for the equimolar dual-component gel. From this profile, the radial electron density distribution was determined and the radius of the cylinder was estimated to be 2.6 nm. The electron density distribution thus obtained revealed that four gelator molecules are packed in the sectional direction. This model was consistent with the size of the gelator molecules.