A new gelator 1 based on tetraphenylethylene(TPE) and diphenylalanine was designed and synthesized.Compound 1 was non-emissive in solution,but its fluorescence turned on after the formation of gels,due to the aggregation-induced emission(AIE) feature of TPE.Interestingly,the fluorescence was reversibly switched "on-off" upon the "gel-sol" transition.Scanning electron microscope(SEM),confocal laser scanning microscope(CLSM) and X-ray diffraction(XRD) were employed to study the gels.
