The selective recruitment of oligosaccharides, or even simple sugars, in water solvent is an unsolved molecular recognition problem. Structure-guided, electrostatic redesign led to a significant increase in the affinity of a β-peptide "borono-bundle" for simple sugars in neutral aqueous solution. The affinity for fructose (663 M(-1)) in water should allow its recruitment to the bundle surface for selective catalysis, and future work will focus in this direction.