Maltoside Detergents

A class of detergents extremely useful in protein extraction, stability and crystallization of cell membrane proteins are known as Maltosides. These are greatly useful in the stabilization of the active form of membrane proteins to allow the study of structural and biophysical properties.

This class of detergents are comprised of a hydrophilic sugar (maltose) head group and a hydrophobic carbon tail.

There are numerous maltosides a list of the most popular includes:

• Dodecyl Maltoside
• Decyl Maltoside
• Hexadecyl Maltoside
• Octyl Maltoside
• Tetradecyl Maltoside
• Tridecyl Maltoside
• Undecyl Maltoside

Many times you will see the the word Maltopyranoside used to describe the members of this class.

What makes each of these different? All have the same sugar head group but the length of the carbon tail differs in each. The differences in the length of the carbon tail causes differences in chemical and physical properties.

Properties effected: Solubility, CMC, aggregation number, molecular weight. These are a few of the properties that show the biggest difference between the different detergents in this class.

Below is a list of the properties of each:

Dodecyl Maltoside - This is one of the most widely used detergents for protein studies. The chain is 12 carbons in length. 

• Solubility in H20 is greater or equal to 20% at 5 degrees Celsius 
• CMC in water ).17 mM
• Aggregation number 78 - 149 (H20)
• Molecular weight - 510.6

Decyl Maltoside - The carbon chain attached to the maltose sugar is 10.

• Solubility - greater or equal to 20% at 5 degrees
• CMC - 1.8 mM
• Aggregation number - 69 (H2O)
• Molecular weight - 482.6

Hexadecyl Maltoside - 16 carbon chain

• Solubility - greater or equal to 1% at 40 degrees Celsius.
• CMC - 0.0006 mM
• Aggregation number - No data
• M.W. - 566.6

Octyl Maltoside - Chain is 8 carbons in length.

• Solubility 20% at 5 degrees
• CMC - 19.5 mM
• Aggregation number equals 6 in water
• Molecular weight - 454.4

Tetradecyl Maltoside - 14 C tail

• Solubility - greater or equal to 20% at 5 degrees Celsius 
• CMC - 0.01 mM
• Aggregation number - No data
• Molecular weight - 538.6

Tridecyl Maltoside - 13 carbon tail

• Solubility - 20% at 5 degrees
• CMC - .033 mM
• Aggregation number 186 in H2O
• Molecular weight - 524.6

Undecyl Maltoside - 11 carbons

• Solubility - 20% at 5 degrees
• CMC - 0.59 mM
• Aggregation number 71 in water
• Molecular weight - 496.6

What makes dodecyl maltoside so popular? Not only does it perform in purifying and stabilizing active membrane proteins but it is also economical in price. The lower the CMC usually means the less detergent required to conduct an experiment. Looking at the list of the different maltosides you will notice dodecyl maltoside has one of the lowest CMC values.

The only except on the list is Hexadecyl Maltoside but the solubility of this detergent is only 1% in water while Dodecyl's is 20%, making the Hexdecyl form more difficult to work with.

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