Macrocyclic bile acids: from molecular recognition to degradable biomaterial building blocks

Abstract

Bile acids are naturally occurring compounds that are present in large amounts in the human body where they play a role in fat solubilisation. Their macrocyclic counterparts display a unique combination of controllable conformation and functionality that makes these compounds ideal building blocks for molecular recognition, asymmetric synthesis, molecular knots and synthetic biopolymers. The synthesis of these steroidal macrocycles is reviewed first with an emphasis on the conditions that allow for the control of the oligomer distribution. The different applications of these compounds in fields such as sensing, biomimetics and biomaterials are then examined in detail.