Toward β-Peptide Tertiary Structure: Self-Association of an Amphiphilic 14-Helix in Aqueous Solution

Abstract
A major frontier in foldamer research is creation of unnatural oligomers that adopt discrete tertiary structures; at present, only biopolymers are known to fold into such compact conformations. We report an initial step toward helix-bundle tertiary structure in the β-peptide realm by showing that a 10-residue β-peptide designed to adopt an amphiphilic helical conformation forms small soluble aggregates in water. Sedimentation equilibrium data indicate that the aggregated state falls in the tetramer-hexamer size range.