Recent developments in the synthesis of amino acids and analogues for foldamers study

Synthetic amino acids have particular appeal for extending our understanding of protein structure and stabilization into the realm of folded, nonbiological polymers. Chemists are now beginning to design biomimetic amino acids that can form both secondary and tertiary structures. An overview of the synthesis of non-protein amino acids recently used in the design of conformationally well-defined foldamers is discussed.