Saccharide-dependent induction of chiral helicity in achiral synthetic hydrogen-bonding oligomers

Conformational transitions of biopolymers are well-known to be affected by noncovalent interactions with small molecules. We found that synthetic polymers, poly- and oligo(meta-ethynylpyridine)s, are guided to helical structures by uncharged hydrogen-bonding interactions with saccharides enclosed in the inner sphere of the polymers. Circular dichroism (CD) studies revealed that chirality of saccharide was transferred to the helical sense of the polymers. Among the n-octyl pyranosides of naturally important hexoses, beta-glucoside induced CDs most effectively. Size-regulated 18-mer and longer oligomers also showed the induced CDs similar to those for the polymers. Furthermore, native monosaccharides were extracted into less polar organic solvent with the help of the polymers, inducing similar CD signals.