Towards a biomimetic poly-aminoketone foldamer: synthesis of a triply protected monomer and its coupling to a dimer, trimer and tetramer

The design of a new biomimetic foldamer, relying on the weak amine–carbonyl interaction for secondary structure formation, is presented. The efficient synthesis of a triply protected monomer starting from glycidol was developed. This monomer contains a dioxolane-protected keto group that will allow liberation of the ketone functionality in the backbone once construction of the oligomeric backbone is complete. This monomer contains two additional orthogonal protecting groups at its two termini, the Fmoc and the TBDMS groups. The Fmoc group in particular permits oligomerisation towards the N terminus as seen in Fmoc solid phase peptide synthesis. Construction and full characterisation of a ketone-protected dimer, trimer and tetramer are reported.