What is "depsipeptide"

n. (context organic chemistry English) any of a class of polymeric compounds having both peptide and ester linkages, often alternating.

A depsipeptide is a peptide in which one or more of its amide, -C(O)NHR-, groups are replaced by the corresponding ester, -C(O)OR, or more generally, is a molecule that has both peptide and ester linkages in proximity in the same amino acid-containing small molecule or chain. The ester moiety is generally an easily accomplished synthetic alteration, making depsipeptide tool compounds easy to prepare, e.g. in construction of alternative substrates for proteolytic enzymes. As well, nature has many pathways for production of this structural motif, and so depsipeptide natural products are relatively common, and are being studied in a variety of early preclinical therapeutic discovery contexts, including antiinfectives (toward discover of antibacterials and antivirals).