Self-assembled molecules glycolipids

Figure 10 Self-assembled nanotubes can be obtained through a rolling mechanism (chiral molecular packing) or packing directly from the monomer. The structures of amphiphilic molecules used in nanotube formation (a) diacetylenic phospholipids, (b) diacetylenic N-aldonamides, (c, d, and e) glucose glycolipids, (f) sphingolipids, (g) glucophospholipid amphiphiles, (h) amphiphile with a serine head. R and R groups represent a variety of alkyl, alkenyl, or alkynyl groups. (Reproduced with permission from Ref. 52. The Chemical...

The mesogenic structures of glycolipids are due to the occurrence, on the same molecule, of a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic moiety often referred to as head and tail respectively. As a result, glycolipids are able to self-organize into a large variety of mesophases also called liquid crystals (Fig. 2) [ 10]. Supramolecular assemblies of mesogenic compounds can be caused by a rise in temperature (thermotropic liquid crystals) or by the addition of water (lyotropic liquid crystals) they result from different responses of the carbohydrate and the alkyl chain to temperature or solvent (water), respectively. 

---