Five amphiphilic alpha- or beta-amino acid derivatives containing photoactive azobenzene moiety and bearing amide or sulfonamide functional groups were synthesized and mono- and multilayers, prepared by Langmuir-Blodgett technique, were investigated. The reversible photoisomerization processes in solutions of these derivatives were observed. Reversible trans/cis photoisomerization of 4-[4-(hexyl-palmitoylamino)- phenylazo]benzenesulfonyl-beta-alanine in multilayer assemblies has been observed on alternate irradiation with UV light (centered at 360nm) and visible light (452nm).