Guanidinium-Stapled Helical Peptides for Targeting Protein-Protein Interactions

Peptide stapling has emerged as a versatile approach in drug discovery to reinforce secondary structure elements especially α-helices and improve properties of linear bioactive peptides. Inspired by the prevalence of arginine in protein-protein and protein-DNA interfaces, we investigated guanidinium-stapling as a means to constrain helical peptides. Guanidinium stapling was readily achieved on solid support, utilizing two orthogonally protected lysine or unatural α-amino acid residues with an amino function. This method allows for easy modulation of the nature and size of the staple as well as helix propensity. Evaluating a set of guanidinium-stapled peptides for their interaction with different protein targets identified several binders with increased target affinity. X-ray structure determination of four complexes revealed that all stapled peptides adopt a helical conformation upon protein binding. Notably, the disubstituted guanidinium generally exhibits a distinct cis/trans conformation and, in one instance, retains a conserved hydrogen bond with the protein surface. By identifying, for the first time, the guanidinium moiety as an effective helical peptide stapling group, this research significantly expands the repertoire of α-helix stapling techniques for the creation of useful protein mimics.