Fibers and wires in organogels from low-mass compounds: Typical structuraland rheological properties

An overview is given of the special class of thermoreversible organogels an d jellies formed with low-mass compounds. Two distinct rheological behavior s can characterize these binary systems: (1) viscoelastic liquids which dev elop an elasticity over short times, (2) viscoelastic solids which are cons tituted on long-lived 3-d networks at a temperature T in the gel domain of the phase diagram. Entangled, breakable giant micelles (molecular wires) ar e opposed to fibers interconnected through crystalline-like microdomains. C ertain thermal and rheological properties are presented as well as the deta iled structural context at different scales of the fibrillar networks. A br ief review of the different chemical classes of organogelators illustrates the growing development in the field. The class of viscoelastic liquids (je llies) is illustrated with the special category of monomolecular organometa llic wires.