Nucleoside derived amino acids (NDA) in foldamer chemistry: synthesis and conformational studies of homooligomers of modified AZT

Homo short-oligomers of a novel trans-β-amino acid derived from AZT were synthesized and characterized. These adopt right-handed helical turns with their bases positioned systematically along the helix axis. These studies open up new possibilities for synthesizing nucleoside derived functional foldamers.