β-Turn Induction by a Diastereopure Azepane-Derived Quaternary Amino Acid

J Org Chem. 2023 Oct 20;88(20):14688-14696. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.3c01689. Epub 2023 Sep 29.

Abstract

β-Turns are one of the most common secondary structures found in proteins. In the interest of developing novel β-turn inducers, a diastereopure azepane-derived quaternary amino acid has been incorporated into a library of simplified tetrapeptide models in order to assess the effect of the azepane position and peptide sequence on the stabilization of β-turns. The conformational analysis of these peptides by molecular modeling, NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography showed that this azepane amino acid is an effective β-turn inducer when incorporated at the i + 1 position. Moreover, the analysis of the supramolecular self-assembly of one of the β-turn-containing peptide models in the solid state reveals that it forms a supramolecular helical arrangement while maintaining the β-turn structure. The results here presented provide the basis for the use of this azepane quaternary amino acid as a strong β-turn inducer in the search for novel peptide-based bioactive molecules, catalysts, and biomaterials.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amino Acids* / chemistry
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Peptides* / chemistry
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Proteins

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Peptides
  • Proteins