Polydepsipeptides. 5. Experimental Conformational Analysis of Poly(L-alanyl-L-lactic acid) and Related Model Compounds

In this paper we report an experimental conformational analysis of the depsipeptide model compounds acetyl-L-alanine methyl ester, acetyl-L-lactic acid N-methylamide, and acetyl-L-alanyl-L-lactic acid N-methylamide and of the sequential polydepsipeptide poly(L-alanyl-L-lactic acid). The model depsipeptides were examined in dilute organic solutions by infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Neither acetyl-L-alanine methyl ester nor acetyl-L-lactic acid N-methylamide assumes an intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded conformation. Acetyl-L-alanyl-L-lactic acid N-methylamide, on the other hand, in dilute chloroform or dilute carbon tetrachloride solutions, strongly favors a conformation with an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the N-H hydrogen atom of its N-methylamide group and the carbonyl oxygen atom of its acetyl group. Comparison of theoretical and experimental circular dichroism suggests that poly(L-alanyl-L-lactic acid) is partially ordered in chloroform solution with approximately 50% of its repeat units in the R₁₀ helix, an ordered conformation found by our previous theoretical analysis to have a low intramolecular conformational energy.