Influence of Proline Chirality on Neighbouring Azaproline Residue Stereodynamic Nitrogen Preorganization

We report herein the first systematic crystal structural investigation of azaproline incorporated in homo- and heterochiral diprolyl peptides. The X-ray crystallography data of peptides 1 – 5 illustrates that stereodynamic nitrogen in azaproline adopted the stereochemistry of neighbouring proline residue without depending on its position in the peptide sequence. Natural bond orbital analysis of crystal structures indicates O_azPro−C′_Pro of peptides 4 and 5 participating in n→π* interaction with stabilization energy about 1.21–1.33 kcal/mol. Density functional theory calculations suggested that the endo-proline ring puckering favoured over exo-conformation by 6.72–7.64 kcal/mol. NBO and DFT data reveals that the n→π* interactions and proline ring puckering stabilize azaproline chirality with the neighbouring proline stereochemistry. The CD, solvent titration, variable-temperature and 2D NMR experimental results further supported the crystal structures conformation.