Cover Picture: Chiral Centers in the Side Chains of α-Amino Acids Control the Helical Screw Sense of Peptides (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 40/2004)
First published: 05 October 2004
Abstract
A tidal vortex (helix) is formed, both right- and left-handed, where a violent tidal current meets a peaceful sea (the picture from Naruto City Tourist Association shows an example at Naruto channel, Japan). In contrast, α-helices of proteins almost always show a right-handed helical screw sense because of the stereogenic α-carbon center of α-amino acids. M. Tanaka et al. now demonstrate on page 5360 ff. how the left-handedness of a α-helical peptide is controlled by the side-chain stereogenic centers.
