A Synthetic Receptor Motif Designed for Extended Peptide Conformations

The intrinsic flexibility of short peptides makes them difficult targets for molecular recognition. Although in general too short to form stable secondary structures, many are able to sample extended conformations. Using monomer cycloalkyl-1,2-trans-diamines alternated with cycloalkyl-1,2-trans-dicarboxylic acids, we have constructed a novel receptor motif to be complementary to extended tripeptides. Receptor design, synthesis, structural analysis and binding studies are presented.