Supramolecular gels are an important and interesting class of soft materials that show great potential for many applications. Most of them have been discovered serendipitously, and understanding the supramolecular self-assembly that leads to the formation of the gel superstructure is the key to the directed design of new organogels. We report herein the organogelating property of four stereoisomers of the simple steroid 2,3-dihydroxycholestane. Only the isomer with the trans-diaxial hydroxy groups had the ability to gelate a broad variety of liquids and, thus, to be a super-organogelator for hydrocarbons. The scope of solvent gelation was analysed with regard to two solvent parameters, namely the Kamlet–Taft and the Hansen solubility parameters. The best correlation was observed with the Hansen approach that revealed the existence of two clear gelation zones. We propose a general model of self-assembly through multiple intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the 1,2-dihydroxy system, which is based on experimental data and computational simulations revealing the importance of the di-axial orientation of the hydroxy groups for the one-dimensional self-assembly. Under controlled conditions, the fibrillar superstructure of the organogel was successfully used as a template for the in-situ sol–gel polymerization of tetraethoxysilane and the further preparation of silica nanotubes. We propose that the driving forces for templating are hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions between the anionic silicate intermediate species and the self-assembled fibrillar network.

The modulation of the fluorescence emission of a perylene dye between ON and OFF states was achieved with high efficiency by means of a diarylethene photochromic compound in an organogel medium. Fluorescent gels were prepared from a steroidal low molecular weight organogelator doped with the perylene fluorophore. The compatibility of the photochromic compound in this medium and the non-destructive readout capability were demonstrated. The dye doped organogel was further used as a template and an innovative method was employed to grow fluorescent silica spherical nanoparticles with physically and chemically admixed perylene dye.