Self-assembly of arjunolic acid derivatives

Arjunolic acid, a nano-sized triterpenoid, is extractable from Op saw-dust of Terminalia arjana. We have demonstrated that the trihydroxy triterpenic acid can he utilized as a renewable nano entity for snpramolecular chemistry and nano-science. The sparingly soluble triterpenoid became more soluble in common organic solvents on transformation to esters or ketal derivatives. Interestingly, the derivatives of arjunolic acid self-assembled in different liquids forming fibrillar networks and vesicles at low concentrations affording supramolecular gels in most of the cases. The vesicular self-assemblies were utilized for the entrapment of various fluorophores such as 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein. An anthrylidene derivative of methyl arjunolate formed a thermochrornic soft-material in the presence of an electrondeficient guest. This review article highlights the results obtained in our laboratory utilizing arjunolic acid during the last ten years.