Flash
Chirality-dependent reentrant gels

Inverse-melting is a unique phenomenon describing liquid-to-solid phase transition upon heating. Alpha-cyclodextrin(αCD)-pyridine mixtures and modified calix[4]arenes are examples for such systems. In our research, we attempted to find new systems that will offer additional tools for gaining better understanding of the freezing upon heating phenomenon. We chose a chiral amine which is liquid at ambient temperatures, as a new solvent for αCD. As αCD is chiral, the intermolecular interactions and the resulting stable phase of the mixture are expected to be different for the two enantiomers of the solvent.