title: Effect of lengthening of peptide backbone by insertion of chiral beta-homo amino acid residues: conformational behavior of linear peptides containing alternating L-leucine and beta-homo L-leucine residues.
abstract: The synthesis and the solution behavior of the linear peptides containing a beta-homo (beta-H) leucine residue-Boc-Leu-beta-HLeu-Leu-OMe, Boc-beta-HLeu-Leu-beta-HLeu-Leu-OMe, and Boc-Leu-beta-HLeu-Leu-beta-HLeu-Leu-OMe-as well as the solid structure of the tripeptide, are reported. The conformational behavior of the peptides was investigated in solution by two-dimensional nmr. Our data support the existence in solution with different families of conformers in rapid interchange. The crystals of the tripeptide are orthorhombic, space group P2(1)2(1)2, with a = 15.829(1) A, b = 29.659(1) A, c = 6.563(1) A, and Z = 4. The structure has been solved by direct methods and refined to final R1 and wR2 indexes of 0.0530 and 0.1436 for 2420 reflections with I > 2sigma(I). In the solid state, the tripeptide does not present intramolecular H bonds, and the peptide backbone of the two leucine residues adopts a quasi-extended conformation. For the beta-HLeu residue, the backbone conformation is specified by the torsion angles straight phi(2) = -120.9(4) degrees, mu(2) = 56.7(4) degrees, psi(3) = -133.2(4) degrees. The side chains of the three residues assume the same conformation (g(-), g(-), trans), and all peptide bonds, except the urethane group at the N-terminus, are in the trans conformation. Preliminary conformational energy calculations carried out on the Ac-NH-beta-HAla-NHMe underline that the conformations with mu angle equal to 180 degrees and 60 degrees assume lower energy with respect to the others. In addition, we found a larger conformational freedom for the psi angle with respect to the straight phi angle.
authors.affiliation: Centro di Studio di Biocristallografia, CNR, and Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II," Via Mezzocannone 4, I-80134 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bucci
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Isernia
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saviano
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Iacovino
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romanelli
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Lello
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grimaldi
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Montesarchio
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Napoli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piccialli
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benedetti
mesh_terms: D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D007930:Leucine / Q000737:chemistry*; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; D007930:Leucine