Benzoylurea Oligomers: Synthetic Foldamers That Mimic Extended α Helices

Not-so-short and curlies: A new benzoylurea-based foldamer scaffold favors a linear conformation governed by intramolecular hydrogen bonding (see picture, left). The functional groups R are in a staggered arrangement analogous to an α helix. Iterative synthesis and diversification of the functional groups leads to structures with lengths similar to those of naturally occurring α helices (right).