Fat for the future: designing multifunctional molecular oleogels.

With the deadline for replacing partially hydrogenated oils less than a year away, there is a compelling need to develop functional, healthy, and nutritious materials that can be used to turn liquid oils into semi-solid fats. Toward that end, our research group has successfully demonstrated the design and synthesis of a new family of naturally derived molecular gelators through a simple GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) protocol. These gelators can potentially form stable oleogels with a variety of vegetable oils for food and personal care applications.