SYNTHESIS AND STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS OF LONG-CHAIN N-ACETYL-N-ALKYLLACTOSYLAMINES, A NEW SERIES OF SURFACTANTS DERIVED FROM UNPROTECTED LACTOSE

Surfactants based on sugars are very important for extraction of prote ins. We describe here a new series of surfactants, the N-acetyl-N-alky llactosylamines, easily prepared in a two-stage route starting from un protected lactose. These new compounds have comparable surfactant acti vity to existing sugar-based homologs currently employed in the extrac tion of proteins from biological samples. Moreover, a complete structu ral analysis of these new nonionic amphiphiles by H-1 and C-13 NMR sho wed beta anomeric conformation suitable for chiral induction in micell es.