Using β-Amino Acids and β-Peptide Templates to Create Bioactive Ligands and Biomaterials

β-Amino acids are being increasingly used in the design of bioactive ligands and more recently in the generation of novel biomaterials. Peptides containing either individual β-amino acid substitutions or peptides comprised entirely of β-amino acids, display unique properties in terms of their structural and/or chemical characteristics. β-Peptides form well-defined secondary structures that exhibit different geometries compared to the corresponding α-peptides. β-Peptides, including α-peptides containing only one or two β-amino acids, can be easily modified with different functional groups and are metabolically stable and, together with the predictable side chain topography, have led to the design of a growing number of bioactive β-peptides with a range of biological targets and therapeutic applications. More recently, our understanding of the folding and self-assembly of β-peptides has resulted in the generation of novel biomaterials. The focus of this review is to examine how the structural and chemical properties of β-peptides have been exploited in the design of bioactive peptides and selfassembled nanomaterials.