Thermoreversible gelation of rigid rod-like and semirigid polymers

Thermoreversible gelation of rigid rod-like and semirigid polymers 

In chemical gels the network connection (crosslink) is usually a covalent bond, which leads to a thermally irreversible gel. When the crosslinking is purely physical in nature, a physical gel is formed which is thermally reversible. There have been at least two excellent works published in the last few years. Reversible Polymeric Gels and Related Systems by Russo [2] and Thermoreversible Gelation of Polymers and 

Mechanical and Thermophysical Properties of Polymer Liquid Crystals Edited by W. Brostow 

Biopolymers by Guenet [3], which have been primarily concerned with thermoreversible gels in flexible polymer systems. The present review will focus on thermoreversible physical gels formed from rigid rod-like and semirigid polymers. 

The question of the structure of reversible gels and the mechanism for their formation is not trivial, since it cannot be generalized. Russo [2] has proposed a general classification of fishnet gels for flexible 

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Thermoreversible gelation of rigid rod-like and semirigid polymers 13.2 POLY(AMINO ACID)S... 

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