Cholic acid, a main bile acid, is a biosurfactant involved in the digestion of dietary lipids. With the carboxylate group as the ionic head group it resembles a ™classical∫ surfactant. However, the steroid part with three hydroxy groups on one side is often considered to be a facial amphiphile. These hydroxy groups can have specific interactions, such as those found in inclusion compounds, [1,2] organogelators, [3±6] and receptors [7,8] based on cholic acid. Furthermore, the hydroxy groups, each with a different reactivity, [9] make cholic acid an ideal starting point for a synthetic procedure. The polarity of the hydroxy groups can be increased to emphasize the facial amphiphilicity of the steroid unit. The resulting facial amphiphiles have many applications in ion transport, [10,11] combinatorial chemistry, [12] vesicle fusion, [13] and improvement of membrane permeability. [14] Even facial amphiphiles with three ionic groups are reported. [15,16] However, the properties of these cationic (NH 3 þ ) or anionic (COO À ) facial amphiphiles are dependent on the pH of the solution. Herein, a series of new facial amphiphiles with a permanent ionic character is presented. Three cationic trimethylammonium groups were attached to cholic acid and the carboxylate group was esterified, to yield a new class of three-headed surfactants.We know of only one other example of a surfactant with three permanent ionic head groups and only one hydrophobic tail. [17] We report on the aggregation of this new type of surfactant into spherical micelles and on its antimicrobial activity.Synthesis of this series of ionic facial amphiphiles was completed in three steps from cholic acid (Scheme 1). First, the carboxylate group was esterified with a long alkyl group.Then, a spacer was attached to all three hydroxy groups using an w-bromoalkanoic chloride. Finally, the bromine atoms were substituted by trimethylamine to give trimethylammonium groups on 1. Variation was made in the length of the alkyl tail (n ¼ 8, 10, 12, or 16) and in the length of the spacer (m ¼ 3, 4, 5, or 7).These new compounds are very hygroscopic. Solutions with accurately defined concentration were therefore prepared from lyophilized solutions. Because of the long aliphatic tail, aggregation occurs at rather low concentrations, about 1 mm, depending on the length of both the alkyl tail and the spacer.Evidence for micelle formation was obtained from cryo-TEM measurements. For several compounds, cryo-TEM images were recorded of aqueous solutions (1 wt %, about 8 mm). Two examples are shown in Figure 1. The images show small aggregates with an average diameter of 3±6 nm. The aggregates formed from 1 a (n ¼ 8, m ¼ 3) are smaller than from 1 g (n ¼ 16, m ¼ 3; 3±4 nm and 5±6 nm respectively), which demonstrates the influence of the alkyl tail length on micellar size. No elliptical or bar-shaped aggregates are COMMUNICATIONS