Tunable E–Z Photoisomerization in α,β-Peptide Foldamers Featuring Multiple (E/Z)-3-Aminoprop-2-enoic Acid Units

Systems in which an external stimulus elicits a response through some sort of modification at the molecular or supramolecular level bear potential for the development of smart materials and devices. This work describes a versatile synthetic approach suitable for the stepwise incorporation of multiple, even consecutive, units of the simplest Cα,β-unsaturated β-amino acid, (E/Z)-3-aminoprop-2-enoic acid, in peptide-based foldamers. The properties of these, including photoinduced E/Z isomerizations, were investigated.