Fmoc-D-norleucine

The sodium salts of amino acids with hydrophobic fluorenyl methyloxy carbonyl (FMOC) group and short alkyl side chains are found to have surfactant properties. This was ascertained first through visual observation of concentration dependent solution behavior and then confirmed by tensiometry measurements. The critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) for the sodium salts of FMOC-l-valine, FMOC-L-leucine, and FMOC-L-isoleucine have been determined to be ~0.1 M. The sodium salt of FMOC-l-norleucine forms a gel at >0.2 M. Powder X-ray diffraction measurements indicated that these surfactants adopt bilayer structures. Three different chiroptical spectroscopic properties, namely optical rotation, electronic circular dichroism, and vibrational circular dichroism, are presented for these surfactants. The specific rotation is found to exhibit an unprecedented increase with concentration beyond CMC. This observation opens up a new area of research relating the concentration dependent increase in specific rotation to the size and shape of aggregates formed by the surfactants.

In the present study, we describe in detail the synthesis of a relatively rare class of phosphorus compounds, α-carboxyphosphinopeptides. We prepared several norleucine-derived α-carboxyphosphinic pseudopeptides of the general formula Nle-Ψ[PO(OH)]-Gly. These compounds could have important applications as transition state-mimicking inhibitors for methionine or leucine aminopeptidases or other enzymes. For the preparation of the key α-carboxyphosphinate protected precursors, we investigated, compared and improved two different synthetic methods described in literature: the Arbuzov reaction of a silylated N-protected phosphinic acid with a bromoacetate ester and the nucleophilic addition of a mixed O-methyl S-phenyl N-protected phosphonic acid or a methyl N-protected phosphonochloridate with tert-butyl lithioacetate. We also prepared two N-Fmoc protected synthons, Fmoc-Nle-Ψ[PO(OH)]-Gly-COOH and Fmoc-Nle-Ψ[PO(OAd)]-Gly-COOH, and demonstrated that these precursors are suitable building blocks for the solid-phase synthesis of α-carboxyphosphinopeptides.

Although a few Fmoc-functionalised amino acids (Fmoc-AA) are capable of forming hydrogels, the exact levels of hydrophobicity, hydrogen bonding, and ionic nature of the Fmoc-AA gelator required for hydrogel formation remains uncertain. Here, the role of hydrophobicity of amino acid side chain, particularly in the formation of hydrogel, was studied by using Fmoc-norleucine (Fmoc-Nle) and its simple sulfur analogues such as Fmoc-methionine (Fmoc-M) in which the γCH2 of Fmoc-Nle is replaced by sulfur. Results indicate that Fmoc-M forms thermally reversible hydrogels in water (pH ca. 6.8), whereas Fmoc-Nle fails to display any gelation under similar conditions. The result suggests that substitution of the sulfur atom likely reduces the hydrophobicity of the alkyl side chain in Fmoc-Nle to the optimum level, which is sufficient to induce supramolecular hydrogelation in Fmoc-M. The difference in the self-association behaviour of Fmoc-M and Fmoc-Nle emphasise the importance of weak noncovalent interaction between side chains (in addition to the hydrogen-bond and aromatic interactions) to stabilise supramolecular self-assembly of Fmoc-functionalised compounds. The current observations provide a lead to the design of new sulfur-based low molecular weight gelators for various potential applications.