Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Huaqiang Zeng.
This paper describes the design, synthesis and characterization of a self-complementary six-H-bonded duplex with an association constant greater than 10(9) M(-1) in CHCl3.
A general strategy for creating nanocavities with tunable sizes based on the folding of unnatural oligomers is presented. The backbones of these oligomers are rigidified by localized, three-center intramolecular hydrogen bonds, which lead to well-defined hollow helical conformations. Changing the curvature of the oligomer backbone leads to the adjustment of the interior cavity size. Helices with interior cavities of 10 A to >30 A across, the largest thus far formed by the folding of unnatural foldamers, are generated. Cavities of these sizes are usually seen at the tertiary and quaternary structural levels of proteins. The ability to tune molecular dimensions without altering the underlying topology is seen in few natural and unnatural foldamer systems.
Four tripeptide chains, when attached to the same end of a hydrogen-bonded duplex (1.2) with the unsymmetrical, complementary sequences of ADAA/DADD, have been brought into proximity, leading to the formation of four hybrid duplexes, 1a.2a, 1a.2b, 1b.2a, and 1b.2b, each of which contains a two-stranded beta-sheet segment. The extended conformations of the peptide chains were confirmed by 1D and 2D NMR. The peptide strands stay registered through hydrogen bonding and the beta-sheets are stabilized by side chain interactions. Two-dimensional NMR data also indicate that the duplex template prevents further aggregation in the peptide segment. When the peptide chains are attached to the two different termini of the duplex template, NMR studies show the presence of a mixture with no clearly defined conformations. In the absence of the duplex template, the tripeptides are found to associate randomly. Finally, isothermal titration calorimetry studies revealed that the hybrid duplex 1a.2a was more stable than either the duplex template or the peptides alone.