A variety of stable, small-molecule peptidomimetic ligands have been developed to elucidate the mechanism by which the neuropeptide Pro-Leu-Gly-NH(2) (PLG) modulates dopaminergic neurotransmission. Photoaffinity labeling ligands based upon PLG peptidomimetics have been used to establish that PLG binds to the D(2) dopamine receptor at a site that is different from the orthosteric site, thus maki...

Peptidomimetics based on hydrazino derivatives of α-amino acids represent an important class of peptidic foldamers with promising biological activities, like protease inhibition and antimicrobial activity. However, the lack of straightforward method for the synthesis of optically pure hydrazino acids and efficient incorporation of hydrazino building blocks into peptide sequence hamper wider exp...

Today there is a highly elevated demand for synthesis and screening of nature-like biopolymers and their more stable modified derivatives like peptidomimetics because availability of huge amounts of genomic and proteomic data can contribute for research in this area. The design and synthesis of peptidomimetics are most important because of the dominant position peptide and protein-protein inter...

A library of peptidomimetics was assembled combinatorially into dimers on a triazine-based core. The pharmacophore corresponds to β-turns of the neurotrophin polypeptides neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), nerve growth factor (NGF), or brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). These are the natural ligands for TrkC, TrkA, and TrkB receptors, respectively. The linker length and the side-chain orientation of...

This minireview provides a brief outline of the peculiar aspects of the preparation of peptidomimetic and pseudopeptidic structures containing heterocycles. In particular novel tricyclic structures are investigated as potential drugs.

Helma Wennemers HW received her master (Diploma) degree in chemistry from the University of Frankfurt in 1993 and her PhD degree from Columbia University New York in 1996. After two years as a postdoctoral researcher at Nagoya University, she joined the faculty at the University of Basel where she is now associate professor of chemistry. Her research focuses on the use of peptides in supramolec...

A simple and efficient method for the synthesis of N,N'-orthogonally protected imide tethered peptidomimetics is presented. The imide peptidomimetics were synthesized by coupling the in situ generated selenocarboxylate of N(α)-protected amino acids with N(α)-protected amino acid azides in good yields. The protocol was also successfully applied for the synthesis of hybrid tripeptidomimetics bear...