Photoactive amino acid derivatives with long alkyl chains

Summary Azobenzene amphiphiles containing-alanine, L-lysine or-homolysine moieties were synthesized and characterised. Stable monomolecular layers at the air/water interface and LB multilayers has been obtained from some of them. One sample of azobenzenes synthesized has been shown to undergo a reversible trans/cis photoisomerization upon light irradiation in both solution and LB multilayer.Abbreviations DCC N,N-dicyclohexyl carbodiimide - HONSu N-hydroxy succinimide - Boc t-butyloxycarbonyl - Bu^t t-butyl - EtOAc ethyl acetate - THF tetrahydrofuran - TEA triethylamine - HPLC high performance liquid chromatography - TLC thin layer chromatography - Ph phenyl - i-PrOH isopropyl alcohol