Exploitation of Dimeric Cyclic Cysteine as Helix Inducer in Ultra-Short Peptides for Cu(II)-Catalyzed Asymmetric Michael Addition on Chalcones

A dimeric cyclic cysteine analogue, i.e. (1R,1 ' R,2R,2 ' R)-2,2 '-disulfanediylbis (aminocyclohexane-1-carboxylic acid), was used as a constrained unnatural amino acid and as a folding inducer in ultra-short Leu-Val-containing peptide. Our results showed that both free dimer amino acid L1 and its peptide derivative L2 are able to chelate Cu(II). The obtained complexes resulted to be catalytically active in Michael addition reaction of nitromethane on different types of chalcones. L1-Cu(II) was shown more reactive in terms of conversion, while, in neat conditions, L2-Cu(II) allows to obtain an interesting 60 % e.e. on pyridine chalcone.