Multilevel protein structures typically involve polypeptides of sufficient lengths. Here we report the folding and assembly of seven short tetrapeptides sharing the same types of α-, β-, and aromatic γ-amino acid residues. These are two sets of hybrid peptides, with three members in one set and four in the other, having complementary hydrogenbonding sequences that were hypothesized to pair into linear H-bonded duplexes. However, instead of undergoing the anticipated pairing, the initially examined three oligomers, 1 and 2a or 2b, differing only in their central αβ hybrid dipeptide sequence, do not associate with each other and exhibit distinctly different folding behavior. Experiments based on NMR and mass spectrometry, along with computational studies and systematic inference, reveal that oligomer 1 folds into an expanded β-turn containing an unusual hybrid α/β-amino acid sequence composed of glycine and β-alanine, two αand β-amino acid residues that are conformationally most flexible, and peptides 2a and 2b adopt a noncanonical, extended helical conformation and dimerize into double helices undergoing rapid conformational exchange or helix inversion. The different central dipeptide sequences, αβ vs βα, result in drastically different intramolecular H-bonding patterns that are responsible for the observed folding behavior of 1 and 2. The revealed turn and double helix have few natural or synthetic counterparts, and provide novel and unique folding prototypes based on which chiral αand β-amino acids are incorporated. The resultant derivatives 1a, 1b, 2c, and 2d follow the same folding and assembling behavior and demonstrate the generality of this system with the formation of expanded β-turns and double helices with enhanced folding stabilities, hampered helix inversion, as well as defined and dominant helical sense. This work has demonstrated the unique capability of synthetic foldamers in generating structures with fascinating folding and assembling behavior. The revealed systems offer ample opportunity for further structural optimization and applications.

Oligoamide duplexes carrying multiple alkyl side chains were found to serve as gelators for aromatic solvents. The double-stranded backbone was essential for the hierarchical self-assembly of the molecular duplex into fibers of high aspect ratios. The demonstrated gelating abilities may be extended to a large family of analogous H-bonded duplexes having different H-bonding sequences, leading to a unique platform for developing a diverse variety of potential gelators based on a supramolecular and/or a dynamic covalent approach.

Connecting basic hydrogen-bonding units with lengthened flexible or rigid linkers generates oligoamide strands that carry new H-bonding sequences and association specificity, leading to H-bonded homo- and heteroduplexes with association constants in the 10 M range in chloroform. Computational and experimental studies indicate that in duplexes with rigid aromatic linkers the oligoamide strands adopt bent conformations that allow the formation of interstrand H-bonds and accommodate the introduced aromatic liners, offering a new series of association units.

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthases (PhaCs) catalyze the formation of biodegradable PHAs that are considered as an ideal alternative to nonbiodegradable synthetic plastics. However, study of PhaC has been challenging because the rate of PHA chain elongation is much faster than that of initiation. This difficulty along with lack of a structure has become the main hurdle to understand and engineer PhaCs for economical PHA production. Here we reported the synthesis of two carbadethia CoA analogs, sT-CH2-CoA 26a and sTet-CH2-CoA 26b as well as sT-aldehyde 29 as new PhaC inhibitors. Study of these analogs with PhaECAv revealed that 26a/b and 29 are competitive and mixed inhibitors, respectively. It was observed that CoA moiety and PHA chain extension can increase binding affinity, which is consistent with the docking study. Estimation from Kic of 26a/b predicts that a CoA analog attached with an octameric-HB chain may facilitate the formation of a kinetically well-behaved synthase.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are carbon and energy storage polymers produced by a variety of microbial organisms under nutrient-limited conditions. They have been considered as an environmentally friendly alternative to oil-based plastics due to their renewability, versatility and biodegradability. PHA synthase (PhaC) plays a central role in PHA biosynthesis, in which its activity and substrate specificity are major factors in determining the productivity and properties of the produced polymers. However, the effects of modifying the substrate side chain are not well understood because of the difficulty to accessing the desired analogs. In this report, a series of 3-(R)-hydroxyacyl coenzyme A (HACoA) analogs were synthesized and tested with class I synthases from Chromobacterium sp. USM2 (PhaCCs and A479S-PhaCCs) and Caulobacter crescentus (PhaCCc) as well as class III synthase from Allochromatium vinosum (PhaECAv). It was found that, while different PHA synthases displayed distinct preference with regard to the length of the alkyl side chains, they could withstand moderate side chain modifications such as terminal unsaturated bonds and the azide group. Specifically, the specific activity of PhaCCs toward propynyl analog (HHxyCoA) was only 5-fold less than that toward the classical substrate HBCoA. The catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km) of PhaECAv toward azide analog (HABCoA) was determined to be 2.86 × 105 M−1s−1, which was 6.2% of the value of HBCoA (4.62 × 106 M−1s−1) measured in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA). These side chain modifications may be employed to introduce new material functions to PHAs as well as to study PHA biogenesis via click-chemistry, in which the latter remains unknown and is important for metabolic engineering to produce PHAs economically.