Ring size effect on the solid state assembly of propargyl substituted hexa- and octacyclic peptoids

The investigation of the solid state assembly of propargyl substituted hexa- and octacyclic peptoids highlights the effect of ring size in determining the packing arrangement of the macrocycles. A layered arrangement is obtained in the case of the hexacyclic peptoid 1 and a tubular arrangement in the case of the octacyclic peptoid 2. Guest molecules either intercalate between the layers as in 1 or are located within the peptoid nanotube as in 2

Cyclic Peptoids as Mycotoxin Mimics: An Exploration of Their Structural and Biological Properties

Cyclic peptoids have recently emerged as important examples of peptidomimetics for their interesting complexing properties and innate ability to permeate biological barriers. In the present contribution, experimental and theoretical data evidence the intricate conformational and stereochemical properties of five novel hexameric peptoids decorated with N-isopropyl, N-isobutyl, and N-benzyl substituents. Complexation studies by NMR, in the presence of sodium tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]borate (NaTFPB), theoretical calculations, and single-crystal X-ray analyses indicate that the conformationally stable host/guest metal adducts display architectural ordering comparable to that of the enniatins and beauvericin mycotoxins. Similarly to the natural depsipeptides, the synthetic oligolactam analogues show a correlation between ion transport abilities in artificial liposomes and cytotoxic activity on human cancer cell lines. The reported results demonstrate that the versatile cyclic peptoid scaffold, for its remarkable conformational and complexing properties, can morphologically mimic related natural products and elicit powerful biological activities

Roadmap on thermoelectricity

The increasing energy demand and the ever more pressing need for clean technologies of energy conversion pose one of the most urgent and complicated issues of our age. Thermoelectricity, namely the direct conversion of waste heat into electricity, is a promising technique based on a long-standing physical phenomenon, which still has not fully developed its potential, mainly due to the low efficiency of the process. In order to improve the thermoelectric performance, a huge effort is being made by physicists, materials scientists and engineers, with the primary aims of better understanding the fundamental issues ruling the improvement of the thermoelectric figure of merit, and finally building the most efficient thermoelectric devices. In this Roadmap an overview is given about the most recent experimental and computational results obtained within the Italian research community on the optimization of composition and morphology of some thermoelectric materials, as well as on the design of thermoelectric and hybrid thermoelectric/photovoltaic devices

An Efficient Modular Approach for the Assembly of S-Linked Glycopeptoids

A short and convenient methodology for the synthesis of S-glycosylated peptoid models is described. The thioglycosylated building blocks were prepared from proper peracetylated sugars via glycosyl iodides in a one-pot fashion and directly employed in a submonomer solidphase strategy