Bend ribbon-forming tetrahydrofuran amino acids

Short oligomeric chains of C-glycosyl beta-D-arabinofuranose configured tetrahydrofuran amino acids (where the C-2 and C-5 substituents of the tetrahydrofuran ring are cis to each other) exhibit a well-defined repeating turn secondary structure stabilised by (i, i - 2) inter-residue hydrogen bonds. This is in contrast to the epimeric alpha-D-arabinofuranose oligomer (where the C-2 and C-5 substituents of the tetrahydrofuran ring are trans to each other) in which there is no indication of any secondary structure in solution.