Therapeutic Index of Gramicidin S is Strongly Modulated by d-Phenylalanine Analogues at the β-Turn
摘要:
Analogues of the cationic antimicrobial peptide gramicidin S (GS), cyclo(Val-Orn-Leu-D-Phe-Pro)(2), with D-Phe residues replaced by different (restricted mobility, mostly) surrogates have been synthesized and used in SAR studies against several pathogenic bacteria. While all D-Phe substitutions are shown by NMR to preserve the overall beta-sheet conformation, they entail subtle structural alterations that lead to significant modifications in biological activity. In particular, the analogue incorporating D-Tic (1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid) shows a modest but significant increase in therapeutic index, mostly due to a sharp decrease in hemolytic effect. The fact that NMR data show a shortened distance between the D-Tic aromatic ring and the Orn delta-amino group may help explain the improved antibiotic profile of this analogue.
Synthesis of enantiomerically pure β,β-diphenylalanine (Dip) and fluorenylglycine (Flg)
摘要:
A new strategy for the preparation of both enantiomers of two phenylalanine analogues, beta,beta-diphenylalanine and fluorenylglycine, has been developed. The combination of a high yielding racemic synthesis and a very efficient resolution procedure has provided significant amounts of each amino acid in enantiomerically pure form and suitably protected for use in peptide synthesis. This methodology can be easily applied to the preparation of larger quantities of enantiopure compounds. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.