For sure the nitrogen atom of the peptide bond can act as a donor of one H-bond. Can the lone pair of the same atom also be used to accept a H-bond?
M. Eugenio Vazquez
Not really, that pair is compromised in the peptide bond, which has a significant double bond character (~30% if I remember right). That N is in theory an sp2 nitrogen, therefore with those electrons having a high "s" character and close to the nucleus, not particularly fond of being shared.
The only cases that I've seen of N atoms in peptide bonds acting as electron donors are in the case of metal coordination (i.e. Arg-Gly-His metallopeptides)
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