Branched chain glycosides: Enhanced diversity for phase behavior of easily accessible synthetic glycolipids

Glycolipids are natural liquid crystals, whose self-assembly is connected to membrane functionality. Because of natural compounds' heterogeneity and due to problems of purifying lipids, synthetic glycolipids have become important media for understanding membranes. However, natural glycolipids require extensive syntheses and, therefore, are of limited accessibility. Technical products like alkyl polyglucosides (APGs), on the other hand, differ in structure and physical behavior from natural products. We here report our work on branched chain glycosides based on Guerbet alcohols. These compounds are readily accessible from common sources and exhibit a complex phase behavior, likely to be suitable for mimicking natural materials.