Peptides of aminoxy acids as foldamers

This Feature Article summarizes our efforts in developing a new family of foldamers from alpha-, beta- and gamma-aminoxy acids. From a series of conformational studies, we demonstrate that peptides consisting of aminoxy acids adopt several well-defined secondary structures, such as alpha N-O turns (which feature an eight-membered-ring hydrogen bond), beta N - O turns (a nine-membered-ring hydrogen bond), gamma N - O turns ( a ten-membered-ring hydrogen bond), 1.8(8) helices (consecutive homochiral alpha N - O turns), 7/8 helices (alternating alpha N - O turns and gamma-turns), 1.7(9) helices ( consecutive beta N - O turns), reverse turns (consecutive heterochiral alpha N - O turns) and sheet-like structures.