Water-Soluble Chiral Cyclic Peptoids and Their Sodium and Gadolinium Complexes: Study of Conformational and Relaxometric Properties

J Org Chem. 2023 Jun 2;88(11):6588-6598. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.2c02713. Epub 2023 May 8.

Abstract

Cyclic peptoids are macrocyclic oligomers of N-substituted glycines with specific folding abilities and excellent metal binding properties. In this work, we show how strategic positioning of chiral (S)- and (R)-(1-carboxyethyl)glycine units influences the conformational stability of water-soluble macrocyclic peptoids as sodium complexes. The reported results are based on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, extensive computational studies, and X-ray diffraction analysis using single crystals grown from aqueous solutions. The studies include 1H relaxometric investigations of hexameric cyclic peptoids in the presence of the Gd3+ ion to assess their thermodynamic stabilities and relaxivities.