Synthetic amatoxin analogue. A two-dimensional proton NMR study of S-deoxy-(Ile3)-(D-Ala7)-amaninamide.

The effect of substitution of L and D amino acids in amatoxin analogues is discussed in this paper. The structure of the analog where D-alanine substitutes for glycine in position 7 has been worked out in solution by two-dimensional NMR methods using a 500 MHz instrument. The combined use of COSY and NOESY two-dimensional spectra allows a clear assignment of the resonances. The use of the coupling constants permits the calculation of the phi angles of the backbone. The NOE effects reveal the through-space contacts between protons of different peptide units, thus determining the rigidity of the amatoxin structure. On these grounds it has been possible to elucidate the conformation of the amatoxin analogue that resembles very closely that of beta-amanitin, thus explaining the high inhibitory activity toward RNA polymerase B.