A synthetic tripeptide as a novel organo-gelator: a structural investigation

Maji, S.K., Malik, S., Drew, M.G.B., Nandi, A.K. and Banerjee, A. (2003) A synthetic tripeptide as a novel organo-gelator: a structural investigation. Tetrahedron Letters, 44 (21). pp. 4103-4107. ISSN 0040-4039 doi: 10.1016/S0040-4039(03)00839-6

Abstract/Summary

A self-associating synthetic tripeptide [Boc-Ala(1)-Aib(2)-beta-Ala(3)-OMe (Aib: alpha-amino-isobutyric acid, beta-Ala: beta-alanine)] forms thermoreversible transparent gels in various organic solvents and this offers the first example of a peptide gelator whose molecular self-assembly afforded for gelation has been characterised by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and FT-IR and NMR spectroscopic studies. The crystal structure of an analogous synthetic non-gelator tripeptide [Boc-Ala(1)-Gly(2)-beta-Ala(3)-OMe] is also discussed in light of the self-assembly of the gelator tripeptide. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.