A peptidomimetic is a small protein-like chain designed to mimic a peptide with adjusted molecular properties such as enhanced stability or biological activity. It is a very powerful approach for the generation of small-molecule-based drugs as enzyme inhibitors or receptor ligands.

Peptidomimetics in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry outlines the concepts and synthetic strategies underlying the building of bioactive compounds of a peptidomimetic nature. Topics covered include the chemistry of unnatural amino acids, peptide- and scaffold-based peptidomimetics, amino acid-side chain isosteres, backbone isosteres, dipeptide isosteres, beta-turn peptidomimetics, proline-mimetics as turn inducers, cyclic scaffolds, amino acid surrogates, and scaffolds for combinatorial chemistry of peptidomimetics. Case studies in the hit-to-lead process, such as the development of integrin ligands and thrombin inhibitors, illustrate the successful application of peptidomimetics in drug discovery.

Andrea Trabocchi
Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Italy

Antonio Guarna
Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Italy