Oligo(N-alkoxy glycines): Trans Substantiating Peptoid Conformations

Peptoid oligomers possess many desirable attributes as bioactive peptidomimetic agents, including their ease of synthesis, chemical diversity, and capability for molecular recognition. Ongoing efforts to develop functional peptoids will necessitate improved capability for control of peptoid structure, particularly of the backbone amide conformation. We introduce alkoxyamines as a new reagent for solid phase peptoid synthesis. Herein, we describe the synthesis of N-alkoxy peptoids, and present NMR data indicating that the oligomers adopt a single stable conformation featuring trans amide bonds. These findings, combined with results from computational modeling, suggest that N-alkoxy peptoid oligomers have a strong propensity to adopt a polyproline II type secondary structure. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 96: 617-626, 2011.