title: Reverse relationship between alpha-carbon chirality and helix handedness in (alpha Me)Phe peptides.
abstract: The crystal-state preferred conformations of two tripeptides, one tetrapeptide, and one pentapeptide, each containing a single residue of the chiral, C alpha, alpha-disubstituted glycine C alpha-methyl, C alpha-benzylglycine [(alpha Me)Phe], have been determined by X-ray diffraction. The tripeptides are Z-L-(alpha Me)Phe-(Aib)2-OH dihydrate and Z-Aib-D-(alpha Me)Phe-Aib-OtBu, the tetrapeptide is Z-(Aib)2-D-(alpha Me)Phe-Aib-OtBu, and the pentapeptide is pBrBz-(Aib)2-DL-(alpha Me)Phe-(Aib)2-OtBu. While the two tripeptides are folded in a beta-bend conformation, two such conformations are consecutively formed by the tetrapeptide. The pentapeptide adopts a regular 3(10)-helix promoted by three consecutive beta-bends. This study confirms the strong propensity of short peptides containing C alpha-methylated alpha-aminoacids to fold into beta-bends and 3(10)-helical structures. Since Aib is achiral, the handedness of the observed bends and helices is dictated by the presence of the (alpha Me)Phe residue. In general, we have found that the relationship between (alpha Me)Phe chirality and helix handedness is opposite to that exhibited by protein aminoacids. A comparison with the preferred conformation of other extensively investigated C alpha-methylated aminoacids is made.
authors.affiliation: C.N.R., Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Formaggio
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pegoraro
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crisma
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valle
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Toniolo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Précigoux
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Boesten
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Schoemaker
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kamphuis
mesh_terms: D008958:Models, Molecular; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides