In this study, the solution structures of the homooligomers of a conformationally constrained bicyclic proline-type β-amino acid were studied by means of molecular dynamics (MD) calculations in explicit methanol and water using the umbrella sampling method. The ratio of trans-amide and cis-amide was estimated by NMR and the rotational barrier of the amide of acetylated bicyclic amino acid monomer was estimated by two-dimensional (2D) exchange spectroscopy (EXSY) or line-shape analysis. A bias potential was introduced with respect to the amide torsion angle ω to enhance conformational exchange including isomerization of amide bonds by lowering the rotation energy barrier. After determination of reweighting parameters to best reproduce the experimental results of the monomer amide, the free energy profile around the amide torsion angle ω was obtained from the MD trajectory by reweighting of the biased probability density. The MD simulation results support the existence of invertomers of nitrogen-pyramidalized amide. Furthermore, extended structures with a high fraction of trans-amide conformation appear to be increasingly stabilized as the oligomer is elongated, both in methanol and in water. Our conformational analysis of natural and non-natural tertiary-amide-based peptide oligomers indicates that these oligomers preferentially adopt a limited number of conformations.

Nitrogen-pyramidalization of amide increases electron density on nitrogen and decreases that on carbonyl oxygen. We identified hydrogen-bonding to carbonyl of nitrogen-pyramidalized bicyclic β-proline derivatives by crystallography, and by NMR and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy in solution. Such hydrogen-bonding can switch the preferred nitrogen-pyramidalization direction, as detected by VCD spectroscopy.

Because homooligomers of 7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2-endo-carboxylic acid, a bridged β-proline analogue with a substituent installed at the remote C4-bridgehead position, completely biased the amide cis–trans equilibrium to the cis-amide structure, we expected that introduction of a substituent at the C1-bridgehead position adjacent to the carboxylic acid moiety, rather than the remote C4-bridgehead position, would tip the cis–trans amide equilibrium toward trans-amide structure without the aid of hydrogen bonding. Thus, in this work we established an efficient synthetic route to an optically active bicyclic analogue of 1,1-disubstituted β-proline, bearing a substituent at the C1-bridgehead position. Crystallographic, spectroscopic, and computational studies showed that indeed oligomers of this analogue take a consistent helical structure involving all-trans-amide linkages, independently of the number of residues, from the dimer up to the octamer. Oligomers composed of (R)-β-amino acid units form an extended left-handed helix with about 2.7 residues per turn and an approximately 4.0 Å rise per residue, characterized by complete lack of main-chain hydrogen bonding. This unique helical structure shows some similarity in shape to the trans-amide-based polyproline II (PPII) helix. The present helix was stable in various kinds of solvents such as alcohols. The present work provided a fundamental structural basis for future applications.

Helical structures of oligomers of non-natural β-amino acids are significantly stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonding between main-chain amide moieties in many cases, but the structures are generally susceptible to the environment; that is, helices may unfold in protic solvents such as water. For the generation of non-hydrogen-bonded ordered structures of amides (tertiary amides in most cases), control of cis−trans isomerization is crucial, even though there is only a small sterical difference with respect to cis and trans orientations. We have established methods for synthesis of conformationally constrained β-proline mimics, that is, bridgehead-substituted 7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2-endo-carboxylic acids. Our crystallographic, 1D- and 2D-NMR, and CD spectroscopic studies in solution revealed that a bridgehead methoxymethyl substituent completely biased the cis−trans equilibrium to the cis-amide structure along the main chain, and helical structures based on the cis-amide linkage were generated independently of the number of residues, from the minimalist dimer through the tetramer, hexamer, and up to the octamer, and irrespective of the solvent (e.g., water, alcohol, halogenated solvents, and cyclohexane). Generality of the control of the amide equilibrium by bridgehead substitution was also examined.

Nitrogen-pyramidalization of amide increases electron density on nitrogen and decreases that on carbonyl oxygen. We identified hydrogen-bonding to carbonyl of nitrogen-pyramidalized bicyclic β-proline derivatives by crystallography, and by NMR and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy in solution. Such hydrogen-bonding can switch the preferred nitrogen-pyramidalization direction, as detected by VCD spectroscopy.