Self-healable, Regenerable, and Degradable Dynamic Covalent Nitroalcohol Organogels

Dynamic covalent gels have been synthesized from an aromatic trialdehyde and α,ω-dinitroalkanes via the nitroaldol reaction in organic solvents. The gelation process could be finetuned by changing the starting nitroalkanes, solvents, feed concentration, catalyst loading, or reaction temperature. The resulting organogels demonstrated good structural integrity and excellent self-healing ability. Intact xerogels were produced upon drying, without damaging the network, and the solvent-free network could recover its gel form in the presence of an organic solvent. Furthermore, the crosslinked dynameric gel depolymerized to small molecules in response to excess nitromethane.