• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.3632-3636
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• 2014

In this study we designed and synthesized several heptapeptides that are enforced to form an amphipathic helix using all-hydrocarbon stapling system and evaluated their antimicrobial and hemolytic activities. The antimicrobial activity showed clear structure-activity relationships, confirming the importance of helicity and amphipathicity. Some stapled heptapeptides displayed a moderate antimicrobial activity along with a low hemolytic activity. To our best knowledge, although not highly potent, these stapled peptides represent the shortest helical amphipathic antimicrobial peptides reported to date. The preliminary data obtained in this work would serve as a good starting point for further developing short analogs of amphipathic helical antimicrobial peptides.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2020

Notable progress has been made in the therapeutic and research applications of cyclic peptides since our previous review. New drugs based on cyclic peptides are entering the market, such as plecanatide, a cyclic peptide approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2017 for the treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation. In this review, we discuss recent developments in stapled peptides, prepared with the use of chemical linkers, and bicyclic/tricyclic peptides with more than two rings. These have widespread applications for clinical and research purposes: imaging, diagnostics, improvement of oral absorption, enzyme inhibition, development of receptor agonist/antagonist, and the modulation of protein-protein interaction or protein-RNA interaction. Many cyclic peptides are expected to emerge as therapeutics and biochemical tools.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.3627-3631
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• 2014

In this study we examined two ester-containing cross-links, hex-2-enyl acetate and hex-2-enyl propionate, as new cross-linking systems for helix stabilization of short peptides. We demonstrated that these hexenyl ester cross-links can be readily installed via a ruthenium-mediated ring-closing metathesis reaction of L-aspartic acid 4-allyl ester or L-glutamic acid 5-allyl ester at position i and (S)-2-(4'-pentenyl)alanine at position i+4 using second generation Hoveyda-Grubbs catalyst at $60^{\circ}C$. Between these two cross-links, we found that the hex-2-enyl propionate significantly stabilizes the ${\alpha}$-helical conformations of short model peptides. The helix-stabilizing effects of the hex-2-enyl propionate tether appear to be as powerful as Verdine's i,i+4 all-hydrocarbon stapling system, which is one of the most widely used and the most potent helix-stabilizing cross-linking systems. Furthermore, the hex-2-enyl propionate bridge is reasonably robust against non-enzymatic hydrolytic cleavage at a physiological pH. While extended studies for probing its chemical scopes and biological applications are needed, we believe that this new helix-stabilizing system could serve as a useful chemical tool for understanding protein folding and designing conformationally-constrained peptide drugs.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.2640-2644
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• 2013

The all-hydrocarbon i,i+4 stapling system using an oct-4-enyl crosslink is one of the most widely employed chemical tools to stabilize an ${\alpha}$-helical conformation of a short peptide. This crosslinking system has greatly extended our ability to modulate intracellular protein-macromolecule interactions. The helix-inducing property of the i,i+4 staple has shown to be highly dependent on the length and the stereochemistry of the oct-4-enyl crosslink. Here we show that changing the double bond position within the i,i+4 staple has a considerable impact not only on the formation of the crosslink but also on ${\alpha}$-helix induction. The data further increases the understanding of the structure-activity relationships of this valuable chemical tool.