Improved δ-valerolactam templates for the assembly of Aß-miniamyloids by boronic ester formation.

The 6,7,8,8a-cis (all-cis) substituted δ-valerolactams of type 10, 11 and 12 are high-affinity diols for boronic ester formation, superior to the corresponding 6,7-trans analogues 1, 3 and 4. X-ray and NMR structure analysis have identified the differences of the six-membered ring conformations which cause the improved esterification properties of the all-cis stereoisomers. The homooligomeric all-cisδ-valerolactams 46-48 are used as polyol templates for the self-assembly of peptidic oligomers 49-52 by dynamic covalent chemistry. The templates have a diol spacing of approximately 5 Å, suitable for the assembly of branched peptides from the quantitative reaction between the peptide of interest, 2-formylphenylboronic acid and the respective template. According to this strategy, the tetrameric Aß-miniamyloid 52 formed spontaneously from nine individual molecules in a three-component system. A detailed NMR analysis based on the complete sequential assignment of the trimeric Aß(32-40)-miniamyloid 51 identified its three-dimensional structure in solution.

Assembly of synthetic Aß miniamyloids on polyol templates.

Covalent dynamic chemistry is used to mimic the first steps of the highly cooperative fibril formation of Aß peptides. For that purpose, Aß peptide pentapeptide boronic acids 1 and 2 were synthesized by solid-phase peptide synthesis and studied in esterification experiments with polyhydroxylated templates. The bis-hydroxylated dipeptide Hot=Tap serves as a template of adjustable degree of oligomerization which spontaneously forms boronic esters with peptides of type 1 and 2. Nuclear magnetic resonance can differentiate between regioisomeric boronic esters and identifies preferred sites of esterification on the dimeric template 9. 2-Formylphenylboronic acid (14) is used to link the parent pentapeptide Leu-Val-Phe-Phe-Ala to the template 16 to obtain threefold boronic ester 17. The miniamyloid 17 assembles from seven components by imine and boronic ester bonds between the peptides and the template. The relative orientation and spacing of the peptides mimic the assembly of peptides in Alzheimer ß-amyloids.