In a preliminary letter （Tetrahedron Lett. 2010, 51, 188）, we reported two new hydrazide-based quadruple hydrogen-bonding motifs, this is, two monopodal （la and lb） and five dipodal （2a, 2b and 3a--3c） aromatic hydrazide derivatives, and the formation of supramolecular polymers and vesicles from the dipodal motifs in hydrocarbons. In this paper, we present a full picture on the properties of these hydrogen-bonding motifs with an emphasis on their self-assembling behaviors in aqueous media. SEM, AFM, TEM and fluorescent micrographs indicate that all the dipodal compounds also form vesicles in polar methanol and water-methanol （up to 50% of water） mixtures. Control experiments show that lb does not form vesicles in same media. Addition of lb to the solution of the dipodal compounds inhibits the latter＇s capacity of forming vesicles. At high concentrations, 3b and 3c also gelate discrete solvents, including hydrocarbons, esters, methanol, and methanol-water mixture. Concentration-dependent SEM investigations reveal that the vesicles of 3b and 3c fuse to form gels and the gel of 3c can de-aggregate to form the vesicles reversibly.
