The construction of gels from low molecular weight gelators (LMWG) has been extensively studied in the fields of bio-nanotechnology and other fields. However, the understanding gaps still prevent the prediction of LMWG from the full design of those gel systems. Gels with multicomponent become even more complicated because of the multiple interference effects coexist in the composite gel systems. This review emphasizes systems view on the understanding of multicomponent low molecular weight gels (MLMWGs), and summarizes recent progress on the construction of desired networks of MLMWGs, including self-sorting and co-assembly, as well as the challenges and approaches to understanding MLMWGs, with the hope that the opportunities from natural products and peptides can speed up the understanding process and close the gaps between the design and prediction of structures. This review is focused on three key concepts. Firstly, understanding the complicated multicomponent gels systems requires a systems perspective on MLMWGs. Secondly, several protocols can be applied to control self-sorting and co-assembly behaviors in those multicomponent gels system, including the certain complementary structures, chirality inducing and dynamic control. Thirdly, the discussion is anchored in challenges and strategies of understanding MLMWGs, and some examples are provided for the understanding of multicomponent gels constructed from small natural products and subtle designed short peptides.

中文翻译：

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了解从凝胶剂到网络的多组分低分子量凝胶

由低分子量凝胶剂（LMWG）构建凝胶已在生物纳米技术和其他领域得到广泛研究。然而，理解上的差距仍然阻碍了从这些凝胶系统的完整设计中预测 LMWG。由于复合凝胶体系中同时存在多种干扰效应，多组分凝胶变得更加复杂。这篇综述强调了对多组分低分子量凝胶（MLMWG）理解的系统观点，并总结了构建MLMWG所需网络的最新进展，包括自分类和共组装，以及理解MLMWG的挑战和方法，希望来自天然产物和肽的机会能够加快理解过程并缩小结构设计和预测之间的差距。本次审查重点关注三个关键概念。首先，了解复杂的多组分凝胶系统需要从系统角度看待 MLMWG。其次，可以应用多种协议来控制这些多组分凝胶系统中的自排序和共组装行为，包括某些互补结构、手性诱导和动态控制。第三，讨论的重点是理解 MLMWG 的挑战和策略，并提供了一些例子来理解由小型天然产物和精心设计的短肽构建的多组分凝胶。