The supramolecular chemistry of proteins - Protein epitope mimetics prepared using combinatorial biomimetic chemistry

Some new approaches are described for the synthesis of protein epitope mime tics, in particular, mimics of beta -hairpin structures found in antibodies , growth factors, and other proteins involved in macromolecular recognition in Nature. The mimetics are derived by transplanting the hairpin loop from the protein of interest to an organic template that functions to constrain the loop into a hairpin conformation. Furthermore, the methods are amenabl e to parallel synthesis methods, which al lows the production of combinator ial libraries of beta -hairpin mimetics. Such libraries are amenable to hig h-throughput purification, analysis and screening for biological activity, and so may prove to be a valuable source of ligands for chemical biology, a nd drug and vaccine research.