Caffeine as a Gelator

Caffeine (a stimulant) and ethanol (a depressant) may have opposite effects in our body, but under in vitro conditions they can “gel” together. Caffeine, being one of the widely used stimulants, continued to surprise the scientific community with its unprecedented biological, medicinal and physicoch...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nonappa, Erkki Kolehmainen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2016-03-01
Series:Gels
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/2/1/9
Description
Summary:Caffeine (a stimulant) and ethanol (a depressant) may have opposite effects in our body, but under in vitro conditions they can “gel” together. Caffeine, being one of the widely used stimulants, continued to surprise the scientific community with its unprecedented biological, medicinal and physicochemical properties. Here, we disclose the supramolecular self-assembly of anhydrous caffeine in a series of alcoholic and aromatic solvents, rendering a highly entangled microcrystalline network facilitating the encapsulation of the solvents as illustrated using direct imaging, microscopy analysis and NMR studies.
ISSN:2310-2861