Figure 1.

Synthesis of lipidoids. (a) Alkyl-acrylate, alkyl-acrylamide and amino molecules were used to synthesize a combinatorial library of lipidoids. (b) Synthesis occurs through the conjugate addition of amines to an acrylate or acrylamide. Depending on the number of addition sites in the amino monomer, lipidoids can be formed with anywhere from 1 to 7 tails. Amino groups in the lipidoid can be quaternized by treatment with methyl iodide. For ease of nomenclature, lipidoids are named as follows: (amine number)(acrylate or acrylamide name)-(number of tails)(“+” if quaternized).