The inhalation, ingestion, and body absorption of noxious gases lead to severe tissue damage, ophthalmological issues, and neurodegenerative disorders; death may even occur when recognized too late. In particular, methanol gas present in traces can cause blindness, non-reversible organ failure, and even death. Even though ample materials are available for the detection of methanol in other alcoholic analogs at ppm level, their scope is very limited because of the use of either toxic or expensive raw materials or tedious fabrication procedures. In this paper, we report on a simple synthesis of fluorescent amphiphiles achieved using a starting material derived from renewable resources, this material being methyl ricinoleate in good yields. The newly synthesized bio-based amphiphiles were prone to form a gel in a broad range of solvents. The morphology of the gel and the molecular-level interaction involved in the self-assembly process were thoroughly investigated. Rheological studies were carried out to probe the stability, thermal processability, and thixotropic behavior. In order to evaluate the potential application of the self-assembled gel in the field of sensors, we performed sensor measurements. Interestingly, the twisted fibers derived from the molecular assembly could be able to display a stable and selective response towards methanol. We believe that the bottom-up assembled system holds great promise in the environmental, healthcare, medicine, and biological fields.
Keywords: amphiphiles; gelators; gels; methanol detection; molecular self-assembly; sensor.