A Synthetic Hydroxy Acid That Shows Tubular-Shaped Structure in Solid-State and Ionophoric Activity in Phospholipid Bilayers

In this contribution, we describe the ability of compound (±)-1b and six molecules of water to form in solid-state hexameric aggregates, which self-assemble to give hollow tubular structures. Single-crystal X-ray analysis shows that these tubes are open-ended, with irregular shape and internal van der Waals pore diameter between 6 and 9 Å. In addition, transmembrane sodium transport activity was also assessed for (±)-1b using dynamic Na+-NMR technique.