A synthetic hydroxy acid that shows tubular-shaped structure in solid-state and ionophoric activity in phospholipid bilayers

[formula: see text] 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 A. In addition, transmembrane sodium transport activity was also assessed for (+/-)-1b using dynamic Na(+)-NMR technique.