A hexaazatriphenylene-based organogel that responds to silver(I) with high selectivity under aqueous condition

A hexaazatriphenylene (HAT)-based gelator was developed. It exhibits excellent gelation ability. The resulting organogel shows very high selectivity toward Ag+ ion under aqueous condition in the form of gel–sol transformation. The mechanism of such transformation was also investigated through UV–vis spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction.