Amino acid networks

Abstract

The large range of hydrophobicities and water solubilities of α-amino acids, together with the general accessibility of the L (natural) and D (synthetic) enantiomers, makes them ideal candidates for the development of supramolecular networks in crystals, in bulk water and on solid surfaces. In crystal and co-crystal structures of L- and DL- amino acids, amino acid co-crystals and dipeptides, one already finds many useful combinations and obtains definite clues to useful intermolecular interactions. In amphiphilic bilayers and bolaamphiphilic monolayers of amino acid derivatives, crystalline α-networks can also be realized in noncovalent fibers and fiber assemblies. β-Networks presumably depend on some ordering of the fibers on solid subphases or can be made by a stepwise assembly of appropriate amino acids on solid subphases.