Peptide Mimetic Design Considerations

The reader is reminded that elegant examples of peptide mimetic design have been reported that have not exploited computational methods as part of the discovery process. Several other recent reviews report details of these 

No matter what definition of peptide mimetic one adopts, demonstrating that a molecule is, indeed, acting as a mimetic can be difficult. If the focus is 

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Given the extensive biology associated with peptides, it is not surprising that considerable effort has been devoted to the synthesis of peptidomimetics to overcome the unfavorable properties and therapeutic deficiencies of peptides. In particular, since the advent of solid-phase synthesis and, more recently, combinatorial chemistry, interest in peptido-mimetic design and preparation has exploded. In theory, the peptide chemist is only limited by their imagination in the novel modifications that can be tailored for synthetic peptide analogues. 

In light of the importance of the / -turn motif in peptide and protein recognition, and the design and synthesis of bioactive small molecules, / -turn mimetics has attracted considerable attention. Seebach and coworkers have shown recently that low molecular weight open-chain / - and y-peptides designed to promote turn formation can be used as templates for mimicking the a-peptide hormone somatostatin. 

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