Thiophenyl-substituted triazolyl-thione l-alanine: asymmetric synthesis, aggregation and biological properties

In this work, we report the asymmetric synthesis and characterization of an artificial amino acid based on triazolyl-thione l-alanine, which was modified with a thiophenyl-substituted moiety, as well as in vitro studies of its nucleic acid-binding ability. We found, by dynamic light scattering studies, that the synthetic amino acid was able to form supramolecular aggregates having a hydrodynamic diameter higher than 200 nm. Furthermore, we demonstrated, by UV and CD experiments, that the heteroaromatic amino acid, whose enzymatic stability was demonstrated by HPLC analysis also after 24 h of incubation in human serum, was able to bind a RNA complex, which is a feature of biomedical interest in view of innovative antiviral strategies based on modulation of RNA–RNA molecular recognition.