Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering on adenine-based gold(I) hydrogel-entangled water molecules

The hydrogelation of gold(I) complexes is a fascinating albeit still underdeveloped area of soft matter chemistry, with feasible high-technology applications based on the unique properties of this metal. Although the scarce number of reported examples so far has been thoroughly studied by a wide plethora of techniques, there is a general lack of information on how water molecules assist the formation of the supramolecular hydrogelating motifs (which are commonly fibers). Herein, we propose the in-depth study of the dynamical behaviour of water and the hydrogel matrix in three of adenine-based gold(I) low molecular weight hydrometallogelators, by quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS).