(1-Benzimidazolonyl)alanine (Bia): preliminary investigations into a potential tryptophan mimetic

The new amino acid (1-benzimidazolonyl)alanine (Bia) was synthesized as a potential biomimetic replacement of tryptophan. The replacement of tryptophan with this amino acid in a truncated analog of p53 showed nearly identical binding to HDM2 as the same length of the natural peptide. Similar peptides containing 1- and 2-naphthylalanine in lieu of Trp showed weaker binding than either of the other peptides. The synthesis of Bia and the binding of the p53 analogs to HDM2 are reported. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.