Forces behind N- and C-capping of peptidic helices

Helical peptides are primarily stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonds. Particular conformational arrangements, capping motifs, help precisely terminate helices by compensating for disruption of helical H-bonding patterns. This contribution explores if: (i) N-and C-caps are essentially the same; and, (ii) how differences impact their thermodynamic helix stabilities and folding kinetics.