The neurotensin C-terminal hexapeptide, NT (8-13), which has been found to adopt a β- strand-like conformation while bound to the NT1 receptor, was modified by the introduction of conformational constraints. Synthesis of the four stereoisomeric 4.4-spirolactams 1-4 and subsequent NT1 receptor binding studies showed that the restriction of ψ (Pro10) to approximately 130° leads to a more than 1000-fold increase of binding affinity for 1 (K i= ...