Control of Absolute Helicity in Single-Stranded Abiotic Metallofoldamers

Described is the design, synthesis, and characterization of abiotic, single-stranded metallofoldamers that adopt helical secondary structures upon metal complexation. The absolute helicity is determined by stereocenters at the ends of the structures and is enforced by the steric influence and hydrogen bonding ability of esters in the backbone of the foldamer. Folding of the structures is characterized in the solid state by X-ray crystallography and in solution by specific rotation, CD spectroscopy, and NMR spectroscopy.

本研究描述了非生物单链金属折叠寡聚物（metallofoldamers）的设计、合成与表征：这类寡聚物在发生金属配位时可形成螺旋二级结构。其绝对螺旋手性由结构末端的手性中心决定，并通过折叠寡聚物主链中酯基的空间位阻效应与氢键结合能力得到强化。该类结构的折叠行为可通过X射线晶体学在固态下进行表征，并借助比旋光度、圆二色谱（Circular Dichroism, CD）与核磁共振（Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, NMR）波谱法在溶液体系中完成表征。