Design and synthesis of glucose-templated proline-lysine chimera: polyfunctional amino acid chimera with high prolyl cis amide rotamer population

We describe the synthesis of two glucose-templated proline-lysine chimeras (GlcTProLysCs) that differ in the stereochemistry of the hydroxymethyl substituent at the C-5′ position of the pyrrolidine ring. The key synthetic steps involve C-glycosylation of an exocyclic glucose-based epoxide with allyltributylstannane, which affords functionalized C-ketosides containing an α-hydroxy ester moiety; introduction of an amino group at C-2 through stereoselective reductive amination; and regioselective installation of the azide group at C-6 on the glucose scaffold. Incorporation of these chimeras into the model peptides Ac-GlcTProLysC-NHMe and Ac-GlcTProLysC-OMe demonstrates that the stereochemistry of the hydroxymethyl substituent at the C-5′ position has a profound effect on the equilibrium constant of prolyl amide cis/trans isomerization. The equilibrium constant K_c/t for the peptide mimic Ac-GlcTProLysC-NHMe with C-5′(R) stereochemistry was determined to be 3.03 ± 0.04, while the K_t/c for the C-5′(S) diastereoisomer was 0.56 ± 0.04 in D₂O. Temperature coefficient experiments indicate that the origin of these effects is derived from two critical hydrogen bonds involving the C-5′ hydroxymethyl substituent: one to the N-terminal amide carbonyl group, and the other to the primary amino group in the glucose moiety.