Vesicles are being investigated as drug carriers, especially for enhancing the therapeutic effectiveness of the drug while minimizing its side effects. Drug targeting can be achieved if there is a specific recognition of the vesicle's outer wall by specific cells. With these objectives in mind new glycolipids fitted with fluorinated, hydrogenated or mixed, single and double-tails, containing either a gluco- or a galactopyranose residue in their hydrophilic head, were synthesized and their ability to achieve self-organized supramolecular systems was assessed. Replacement of hydrogen by fluorine in these glycolipids was found to enhance biological tolerance. Thus, a fluorinated single-tailed glycolipid displayed no action on red blood cells at concentrations as high as 50 g/l while its hydrogenated analog was hemolytic at 5 g/l. 100% of survival was obtained one month after intravenous or intraperitoneal injection into mice of isotonic dispersions of single and double-tailed glycolipids at a dose of 500 mg/kg. These glycolipids were innocuous on Namalva cell cultures at a concentration of 0.1 g/l.
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