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Optically Active Vibrational Spectroscopy of α‐Aminoisobutyric Acid Foldamers in Organic Solvents and Phospholipid Bilayers
Author(s) -
Lizio Maria Giovanna,
Andrushchenko Valery,
Pike Sarah J.,
Peters Anna D.,
Whitehead George F. S.,
VitóricaYrezábal Iñigo J.,
Mutter Shaun T.,
Clayden Jonathan,
Bouř Petr,
Blanch Ewan W.,
Webb Simon J.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201801121
Subject(s) - raman spectroscopy , chemistry , vibrational circular dichroism , phospholipid , circular dichroism , helix (gastropod) , raman optical activity , foldamer , popc , oligomer , crystallography , infrared spectroscopy , molecule , membrane , organic chemistry , optics , ecology , biochemistry , physics , snail , biology
Helical α‐aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) foldamers show great potential as devices for the communication of conformational information across phospholipid bilayers, but determining their conformation in bilayers remains a challenge. In the present study, Raman, Raman optical activity (ROA), infrared (IR) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopies have been used to analyze the conformational preferences of Aib foldamers in solution and when interacting with bilayers. A 3 10 ‐helix marker band at 1665–1668 cm −1 in Raman spectra was used to show that net helical content increased strongly with oligomer length. ROA and VCD spectra of chiral Aib foldamers provided the chiroptical signature for both left‐ and right‐handed 3 10 ‐helices in organic solvents, with VCD establishing that foldamer screw‐sense was preserved when the foldamers became embedded within bilayers. However, the population distribution between different secondary structures was perturbed by the chiral phospholipid. These studies indicate that ROA and VCD spectroscopies are valuable tools for the study of biomimetic structures, such as artificial signal transduction molecules, in phospholipid bilayers.