Understanding alignment in gel noodles

We can prepare gel noodles by extruding a solution of a dipeptide at high pH into a salt bath. The noodles formed have sufficiently mechanically integrity to be manipulated and lifted out of solution. An potential advantage of these over bulk gels is that it appears that there is a significant degree of molecular alignment within these structures, opening up applications such as conducting wires. We need to quantify this alignment. Using SAXS, we could determine alignment from dried noodles, but not from wet noodles, which we believe is due to a lack of contrast. Here, we will use SANS relying on the contrast difference between gelator and D2O.