NMR studies of a free and protected tetrapeptide glycyl-L-prolylglycylglycine in β-turn-supporting environment

Nmr studies of the protected and free tetrapeptide Gly-Pro-Gly-Gly were carried out in β-turn-supporting solvents, that is, in CDCl3 for Z-Gly-Pro-Gly-Gly-OMe and in Me2SO-d6 for H-Gly-Pro-Gly-Gly-OH. Comparisons with specifically α-deuterated analogs gave complete assignments of the NH and methylene regions. Analysis of chemical shifts, coupling constants, and the temperature dependence of chemical shifts show that the peptide adopts a type II β-turn conformation. This turn is stabilized for the protected tetrapeptide by two hydrogen bonds between (i) CO (Gly1) and NH(Gly4), and (ii) urethane function NH and methyl ester CO.