Design, synthesis, conformational analysis and application of azabicycloalkane amino acids as constrained dipeptide mimics

In the field of peptidomimetics, major efforts have been focused on the design and synthesis of conformationally constrained compounds that mimic or induce reverse-turn motifs of peptides and proteins which are thought to play important roles in recognition and biological activity. In this regard, a particularly attractive class of compounds are the azabicyclo[X.Y.O]alkane dipeptide mimics. We present our efforts on the design, synthesis, and conformational analysis of a series of rigid surrogates of dipeptide units for applications within constrained peptide analogues, for employment as inputs for combinatorial science and biological applications. Several general and versatile synthetic approaches have been conceived to deliver a variety of enantiornerically pure azabi-cycloalkanes. All of these methodologies rely on the construction of a 5-, 6-, or 7-membered lactam, on a preformed proline based nucleus. Different strategies were adopted to perform the key cyclization step: a) radical addition to an olefinic double bond, b) alkylation of a malonate enolate, c) ring-closing metathesis (RCM), and d) lactam bond formation.