Several libraries of gelators have been reported. We have described the use of Boc-protected i amino acids such as tryptophan, cysteine, alanine, phenylalanine, proline and glutamine for the gelation of organic solvents. Side chain fiinctionality imparted individual gelation properties on these compounds. The gelation solvent, minimum gelation concentration (MGC) and thermal stabilities were measured and related back to the previously published lysine-based gelator Lys. The cysteine-based gelator Cys was used to form gels where gold nanoparticles have been aligned along gel nanofibres