The purpose of this work is to expand foldamer diversity by developing a novel class of abiotic β-sheet-like architectures. Our strategy uses inter-strand π-π aromatic stacking between sequences of aromatic oligoamides and oligoamines to mimic the natural stabilization of β-strands, which occurs through a network of regularly spaced hydrogen bonds. These oligamide and oligoamine sequences are connected by a rigid U-shaped moiety that creates a turn and initiates strand formation.These molecules have been designed to adopt compact folded structures that can be studied in solution by NMR spectroscopy and in the solid state by X-ray crystallography. In the first part of this dissertation, we report our stepwise approach in the development of β-sheet-like aromatic amide-based foldamers: from the optimization of the design elements and the use of macrocycles, to the synthesis of multi-turn structures. In the second part, the concept will be extented to the synthesis of more elaborate curving strand β-sheet-like foldamers, opening up new perspectives for more complex architectures.
