Environmental Effects Determine the Structure of Potential β-Amino Acid Based Foldamers.

This work shows that hybrid peptides formed by alternating trans-2-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid (trans-ACPC) and trans-2-aminocyclohexanecarboxylic acid (trans-ACHC) do not fold in the solvents typically used in the study of their homo-oligomers. Only when the peptides are assayed in SDS micelles are the predicted helical structures obtained. This indicates that the environment could play an equally important role (as the backbone stereochemistry) in determining their fold, possibly by providing a sequestered environment.