Fine-tuning the [Pi]-[Pi]. Aromatic interactions in peptides: somatostatin analogues containing mesityl alanine

Going through the motions: Somatostatin analogues having greater conformational rigidity than somatostatin have been prepared by substituting Phe residues in the native sequence with mesityl alanine (Msa; see structure). The analogues show high affinity for SSTR receptors, thus showing that fine‐tuning of noncovalent interactions between amino acid side chains can modulate peptide affinity and selectivity