A maltoside is a glycoside with maltose as the glycone (sugar) functional group. Among the most common are alkyl maltosides, which contain hydrophobic alkyl chains as the aglycone. Given their amphiphilic properties, these comprise a class of detergents, where variation in the alkyl chain confers a range of detergent properties including CMC and solubility. Maltosides are most often used for the solubilization and purification of membrane proteins.
History In 1980 Ferguson-Miller et al. at Michigan State developed n-dodecyl-β-D-maltopyranoside (DDM) as part of a successful effort to purify an active, stable, monodisperse form of cytochrome c oxidase. Maltosides have been used extensively to stabilize membrane proteins for biophysical and structural studies.
Table of detergent properties Maltoside abbr. CMC (mM) MW (g/mol) Micelle (kDa) n-Decyl-β-D-maltopyranoside DM 1.8 (H2O) 482.6 ~33 (69 molecules) n-Dodecyl-β-D-maltopyranoside DDM 0.17 510.6 ~72 (~78-149 molecules) 6-Cyclohexyl-1-hexyl-β-D-maltopyranoside Cymal-6 0.56 508.5 46.3
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