Patent ID: 7534915

Claim:
A method of thickening a fluid, comprising: incorporating into said fluid a trisubstituted cyclic compound, of which the ring is substituted by one or two X—Am—Y n groups and wherein the remaining one or two substituents are —X-Z groups, wherein the substituted ring is a 1,3,5-substituted cyclohexane, the compound being non-symmetrical in that at least one of said —X-Z groups is free of an Am moiety, wherein each of X is independently chosen from the moieties —N(H)—, —C(O)—, —O(CO)—, —OC(S)—, —C(S)—, —NHC(S)—, and —NH—C(O)—; each of Am is independently a moiety based on an amino acid or on an amino acid derivative, or on a number of amino acids or derivatives thereof; each of Y is independently chosen from the group of —OR, —N(OH)R, —NR 2 , —C(O)R, —C(O)—NR 2 , —C(O)—OR, —C(S)R, —C(S)—NR 2 , —C(S)—OR, and R, wherein each R is independently H, or a substituted or unsubstituted, branched, cyclic or straight alkyl, alkenyl or alkynyl group which possibly contains an aromatic, ester or ether moiety or one or more other heteroatoms and may have from 1 to 40 carbon atoms; each Z is independently selected from the group consisting of —OH, —COOH, —C(O)NHR, —NHC(O)R and —NHR, wherein each R is independently chosen, and defined as above; and n=1 or 2 as a gelator or thickener.