A single thiourea group is not enough to get stable thiourea lipoplexes.

The preparation of a new family of lipothiourea is reported using an automatic synthetic workstation. In these compounds the headgroups were made from single thiourea derivatives. The physicochemical properties and the transfection efficiency of several members of the family were studied. It was found that in the presence of DMPC small lipoplexes could be prepared. In opposite to the previously described di- and tri-lipothioureas most of these liposomes are unstable overtime. In addition, even the stable ones show no transfecting efficiency. All these data demonstrate that at least two thiourea groups are necessary to produce stable lipoplexes, to condense DNA and to give efficient transfection.