Self-Organisation, Thermotropic and Lyotropic Properties of Glycolipids Related to their Biological Implications.

Glycolipids are amphiphilic molecules which bear an oligo- or polysaccharide as hydrophilic head group and hydrocarbon chains in varying numbers and lengths as hydrophobic part. They play an important role in life science as well as in material science. Their biological and physiological functions are quite diverse, ranging from mediators of cell-cell recognition processes, constituents of membrane domains or as membrane-forming units.

Crystal structure of cholest-5-en-3β-yl 3-(2,4-dimeth-oxy-3-methyl-phen-yl)prop-2-enoate.

In the title compound, C39H58O4, the steroid rings A and C adopt a chair conformation, while ring B adopts a half-chair conformation, and ring D has an envelope conformation, with the methyl-substituted C atom as the flap. In the crystal, mol-ecules pack within layers parallel to (100), with their long axis parallel to the [101] direction. Adjacent layers are linked via C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and C-H⋯π inter-actions, forming a three-dimensional framework.

Cholest-5-en-3β-yl 3-(4-eth-oxy-phen-yl)prop-2-enoate.

In the asymmetric unit of the title compound, C(38)H(56)O(3), there are two symmetry-independent mol-ecules that differ in the rotation angle along the C-O bond between the 3-(4-eth-oxy-phen-yl)prop-2-enoate and cholest-5-en-3β-yl groups by 169.3 (3)°. In both mol-ecules, steroid ring B adopts a half-chair conformation, rings A and C adopt a chair conformation and ring D exists in an envelope form.