The natural antibiotic triostin A (1) is based on a conformationally rigid disulfide-bridged cyclo-octadepsipeptide scaffold. This bicyclic core structure provides a perfect preorganization of two covalently attached quinoxalines resulting in sequence-specific bis(intercalation) of the chromophores in double-stranded DNA. Herein for the first time the corresponding cyclopeptide has been synthesized as a scaffold instead of the cyclodepsipeptide of triostin A by solid-phase peptide synthesis followed by bis(cyclization) in solution. Furthermore, when in contact with DNA the bicyclic peptide provides additional hydrogen-bonding possibilities and greater conformational rigidity in comparison to triostin A. These modifications to the backbone of triostin A might be especially valuable in combination with the use of nucleo-bases instead of quinoxalines for additional DNA recognition next to bis(intercalation) like major groove binding or detection of abasic DNA damages. (C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2005.