1IntroductionIn de novo protein design one attempts to create artificial proteins with defined structure and function from first principles, usually with the help of trial-and-error procedures that scan a large number of possible amino acid sequences. Our approach to de novo protein design is based on peptide dendrimers. Dendrimers are tree-like structures that adopt a globular or disk-shaped structure as a consequence of topology rather than folding. Our peptide dendrimers are obtained by alternating alpha-aminoacids with branching diaminoacids[1].Dendrimers containing combinations of histidine, serine and aspartate display enzyme-like catalytic properties for the hydrolysis of esters, including enantiomeric discrimination[1d]. The catalytic effect involves cooperative substrate binding and catalysis by a positive dendritic effect[1d].