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Updated: Apr 5, 2026

Author Spotlight: In Silico Creation and Impact of Carbonylated Amino Acids on Protein Structure and Function
Published on: April 26, 2024
Exploring the biological consequences of conformational changes in aspartame models containing constrained analogues
Adriano Mollica1, Sako Mirzaie2, Roberto Costante1
1a Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Chieti-Pescara "G. d'Annunzio" , Chieti , Italy .
Abstract:
The dipeptide aspartame (Asp-Phe-OMe) is a sweetener widely used in replacement of sucrose by food industry. 2',6'-Dimethyltyrosine (DMT) and 2',6'-dimethylphenylalanine (DMP) are two synthetic phenylalanine-constrained analogues, with a limited freedom in χ-space due to the presence of methyl groups in position 2',6' of the aromatic ring. These residues have shown to increase the activity of opioid peptides, such as endomorphins improving the binding to the opioid receptors. In this work, DMT and DMP have been synthesized following a diketopiperazine-mediated route and the corresponding aspartame derivatives (Asp-DMT-OMe and Asp-DMP-OMe) have been evaluated in vivo and in silico for their activity as synthetic sweeteners.
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