中文摘要：

胆酸来源丰富，价格低廉，在生命过程中发挥着重要的作用。与胆固醇不同，胆酸以其结构和修饰途径的多样性，以及独特的双亲结构备受超分子化学工作者关注。近年来以胆酸为基本构筑单元的小分子胶凝剂创制及其相关凝胶的研究取得了重要的进展。本文从胆酸衍生物结构设计到胆酸衍生物凝胶构建，概要介绍了胆酸超分子凝胶及其性能研究进展。在此基础上，简要阐述胆酸超分子凝胶材料的潜在应用。

英文摘要：

Cholic acid has attracted great interest during the past few years mainly due to its superior biocompatibility, unique amphiphilic structure, chirality, and in particular its capability to aggregate in various solvents or mediums. It is these properties that make cholic acid an ideal building block for creating novel suparmolecular structures. As an example, it has been employed for the creation of novel low-molecular mass gelators （LMMGs） , which are the key components to form supramolecular gels. Gelation by LMMGs is a field of intense current activity with gelation being produced by a wide and increasing range of organic compounds. Cholic acid and its derivatives are some of these compounds. However, compared to the studies of cholesterol as a building block to create novel LMMGs, studies for cholic acid in this regard are limited, and the number of the LMMGs derived from cholic acid is less than 100 till the draft of this review. In fact, cholic acid is water soluble, and possesses more reactive groups on its skeleton if compared to cholesterol, and these properties may provide the later more chances to be derived into hydro-gelators, a necessity for creating bio-compatible ge! materials, which may find uses in biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Considering the reasons and facts described above and the potential applications of cholic acid relevant supramolecular gels, this paper briefly reviews the structures, the gelation behaviors and the properties of the gels. In addition, the potential applications of the gels are also presented. It is expected that the field discussed in this review paper can grow rapidly.