Turning Peptide Sequences into Ribbon Foldamers by a Straightforward Multicyclization Reaction

Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, 2015, Volume: 54, Issue: 47, Pages: 13966-13970, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201506955

V. Martin, B. Legrand, L. L. Vezenkov, M. Berthet, G. Subra, M. Calmes, J-L. Bantignies, J. Martinez, M. Amblard

Abstract

The conformational control of mol. scaffolds allows the display of functional groups in defined spatial arrangement.  This is of considerable interest for developing fundamental and applied systems in both the fields of biol. and material sciences.  Peptides afford a large diversity of functional groups, and peptide synthetic routes are very attractive and accessible.  However, most short peptides do not possess well-defined secondary structures.  Herein, we developed a simple strategy for converting peptide sequences into structured γ-lactam-contg. oligomers while keeping the amino acids side chain diversity.  We showed the propensity of these mols. to adopt ribbon-like secondary structures.  The periodic distribution of the functional groups on both sides of the ribbon plane is encoded by the initial peptide sequence.