Abstract:
The invention provides compounds and methods, for example, to carry out organocatalytic Michael additions of aldehydes to cyclically constrained nitroethylene compounds catalyzed by a proline derivative to provide cyclically constrained α-substituted-γ-nitro-aldehydes. The reaction can be rendered enantioselective when a chiral pyrrolidine catalyst is used, allowing for Michael adducts in nearly optically pure form (e.g., 96 to >99% e.e.).The Michael adducts can bear a single substituent or dual substituents adjacent to the carbonyl. The Michael adducts can be efficiently converted to cyclically constrained protected γ-amino acid residues, which are essential for systematic conformational studies of γ-peptide foldamers. New methods are also provided to prepare other γ-amino acids and peptides. These new building blocks can be used to prepare foldamers, such as α/γ-peptide foldamers, that adopt specific helical conformations in solution and in the solid state.
Abstract:
Disclosed are compounds and methods for manipulating proteins in general and membrane proteins in particular. The compounds can be prepared from cholic acid, deoxycholic acid, lithocholic acid, or derivatives thereof. The compounds typically possess critical micelle concentrations lower than those of known detergents such as CHAPS and CHAPSO. Accordingly, lower amounts of the compounds are required for effective solubilization of membrane proteins. The compounds can be used aid the solubilization, isolation, purification, stabilization, crystallization, and/or structural determination of membrane proteins.
Abstract:
The invention provides tandem facial amphiphiles for biochemical manipulations and characterization of membrane proteins, such as intrinsic membrane proteins. Members of this new family display favorable behavior with several membrane proteins. These amphiphiles can form relatively small micelles, and small changes in amphiphile chemical structures can result in large changes in their physical properties. The tandem facial amphiphiles can be used to aid the solubilization, isolation, purification, stabilization, crystallization, and/or structural determination of membrane proteins.