A Convenient Strategy to Access Diverse Libraries of Amphiphilic Compounds Based on Glycopeptoids.

A convergent synthetic approach has been developed to access a potentially wide library of amphiphilic glycopeptoids. The intrinsic modularity of apolar peptoid units, coupled with the ability to conjugate various two-headed monosaccharide units, enables the exploration of a vast chemical space for the precise regulation of amphiphilic properties and the formation of diverse nanomaterials through self-assembly. A full characterization of the physical and chemical properties of the self-assembled materials obtained has been conducted on some representative molecular structures designed for the formation of aggregates. The comprehension of the relation between the molecular structure of this family of amphiphilic compounds and their self-assembly could lead to the "on demand synthesis" of functional excipient for drug delivery or compounds for the stabilization and crystallization of membrane proteins.