Amino acid amphiphiles

Relatively little work on chiral assemblies was reported over the next 15 years until a resurgence in activity in the mid-1980s with nearly simultaneous reports of chiral morphologies in gluconamides,22 amino acid amphiphiles,23,24 and diacetylenic phospholipids 25,26 These systems will be discussed in... 

In this chapter, we have surveyed a wide range of chiral molecules that self-assemble into helical structures. The molecules include aldonamides, cere-brosides, amino acid amphiphiles, peptides, phospholipids, gemini surfactants, and biological and synthetic biles. In all of these systems, researchers observe helical ribbons and tubules, often with helical markings. In certain cases, researchers also observe twisted ribbons, which are variations on helical ribbons with Gaussian rather than cylindrical curvature. These structures have a large-scale helicity which manifests the chirality of the constituent molecules. 

Hydroxy stearic acid and polybenzylglutamate were the classical cases of relatively simple molecules that produced twisted fibers, till the burst of reports on other examples, viz. amino acid amphiphiles, diacetylenic phospholipids, and gluconamides started in the mid-1980s. The handedness of chiral assemblies can be determined from electron micrographs, provided that care is taken to manipulate grids, specimens, films, and image scanners in a consistent way. It was not till the... 

Weissbuch, I., Berfeld, M., Bouwman, W., Kjaer, K., Als-Nielsen, J., Lahav, M., Leiserowitz, L. Separation of enantiomers and racemate formation in two-dimensional crystals at the water surface from racemic - amino acid amphiphiles design and structure, J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 119 (1997) 933-942. 

Weissbuch, I., Rubinstein, I., Weygand, M.J., Kjaer, K., Leiserowitz L Lahav, M. CrystalUnephase separation of racemic and nonracemic zwitterionic a -amino acid amphiphiles in a phospholipid environment at the air/water interface a grazing-incidence X-Ray diffraction study, Helv. Chim. 

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