Peptide nanotube aligning side chains onto one side.

A novel pseudo cyclic penta-β-peptide composed of a β-naphthylalanine, two β-alanines, and a sequence of ethylenediamine-succinic acid (CP5ES) is synthesized and investigated on peptide nanotube (PNT) formation. When the PNT is formed with the maximum number of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the cyclic peptides, the sequence enables the alignment of the side chains, naphthyl groups, on one side of the PNT. Microscopic and spectroscopic observations of CP5ES crystals reveal that CP5ES forms rod- or needle-shaped molecular assemblies showing exciton coupling of the Cotton effect and predominant monomer emission, which are different from a reference cyclic tri-β-peptide composed of a β-naphthylalanine and two β-alanines. Insertion of a sequence of ethylenediamine-succinic acid into β-amino acids in the cyclic skeleton is therefore suggested to be effective to make the side chains aligning on one side of the PNT. Copyright © 2016 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.