Novel glycolipids with thiourea-and urea-linkers have been synthesized as low-molecular-weight gelators by reacting glycosyl aminoacetamides with alkyl isothiocyanates and isocyanates. The influence of the linker groups on their self-assembly properties has been studied. A gelation study of the obtained neoglycolipids in various solvents showed that they are good hydrogelators. Urea-linked glycolipids showed better hydrogelating ability as compared to thiourea linked glycolipids. The influence of sugar head group and alkyl chain length on the glycolipid's self-assembly has also been studied. The fibrillar structures of the supramolecular hydrogels have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermal properties of the hydrogels formed by urea linked glycolipids have been studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and VT-NMR. Molecular packing has been studied by small angle (SAXS) and single crystal X-ray diffraction methods.

As part of our ongoing program aimed at understanding the structural significance of GlcNAcβAsn linkage conserved in all eukaryotic N-glycoproteins, the present study reports on the synthesis and X-ray crystal structures of N-(3-deoxy-3-acetamido-β-D-glycopyranosyl)acetamide (Glc3NAcβNHAc) and the corresponding propionamide (Glc3NAcβNHPr). Comparative analysis of these structures with those of the corresponding GlcNAc (C2 acetamido) compounds showed that the bifurcated anti-parallel pattern involving N-H…O and C-H…O hydrogen bonds, the hallmark feature of the N-glycoprotein models, GlcNAcβNHAc and GlcNAcβAsn, is absent in both the C3 acetamido analogs. The extended (anti) conformation of the amido aglycon moiety as defined by χ(2) seen in the case of C2 acetamido derivative, GlcNAcβNHPr, turns into gauche for the C3 acetamido analog (Glc3NAcβNHPr). This observation is consistent with the earlier work on the critical role of the C2-NHAc group of GlcNAcβAsn in controlling χ(2) at the linkage region of N-glycoproteins.

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The linkage region constituents, 2-deoxy-2-acetamido-β-D-glucopyranose (GlcNAc) and L-asparagine (Asn) are conserved in the N-glycoproteins of all eukaryotes. Elucidation of the structure and conformation of the linkage region of glycoproteins is important to understand the presentation and dynamics of the carbohydrate chain at the protein/cell surface. Earlier crystallographic studies using monosaccharide models and analogs of N-glycoprotein linkage region have shown that the N-glycosidic torsion, ϕN, is more influenced by the structural variation in the sugar part than that of the aglycon moiety. To access the influence of distal sugar as well as interglycosidic linkage (α or β) on the N-glycosidic torsion angles, cellobiosyl and maltosyl alkanamides have been synthesized and structural features of seven of these analogs have been characterized by X-ray crystallography. Comparative analysis of the seven disaccharide analogs with the reported monosaccharide analogs showed that the ϕN value of cellobiosyl analogs deviate ~9° with respect to GlcβNHAc. In the case of maltosyl analogs, deviation is more than 18°. These deviations indicate that the N-glycosidic torsion is influenced by addition of distal sugar as well as with respect to inter glycosidic linkage (α or β); it is less influenced by changes occurring at the aglycon. The χ₂ value of alkanamide derived from glucose, cellobiose and maltose exhibit a large range of variations (from 1.6° to -109.9°). This large span of χ₂ value suggests the greater degree of rotational freedom around C1'-C2' bond which is restricted in GlcNAc alkanamides. The present finding explicitly proved the importance of molecular architecture in the N-glycoproteins linkage region to maintain the linearity, planarity and rigidity. These factors are necessary for N-glycan to serve role in inter- as well as intramolecular carbohydrate-protein interactions.

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