The molecular conformation of cyclotri-β-alanyl

Abstract

The title compound has been studied by molecular mechanics calculations. There is no single, well defined global minimum energy conformation and the low energy conformations are unrelated to the conformation of the analogous alkene, trans,trans,trans-cyclodeca-1,5,9-triene. Electrostatic interactions between the amide groups are shown to be an important conformational determinant in the cyclic tripeptide. Not unexpectedly attempts to characterize a single conformation of cyclo-[β-ala]₃ by X-ray crystal structure analysis and ¹H n.m.r. were unsuccessful.