Solid-phase synthesis

Abstract: A novel yet simple method is described that facilitates the synthesis of large numbers of peptides to the extent that the synthesis process need no longer be the limiting factor in many studies involving peptides. By using the methods described, 10-20 mg of 248 different 13-residue peptides representing single amino acid variants of a segment of the hemagglutinin protein (HA1) have been prepared and characterized in less than 4 weeks. Through examination of the binding of these analogs to monoclonal antibodies raised against residues 75-110 of HA1, it was found that a single amino acid, aspartic acid at position 101, is of unique importance to the interaction. Two other residues, aspartic acid-104 and alanine-106, were found to play a lesser but significant role in the binding interaction. Other single positional residue variations appear to be of little or no importance.

Abstract: Polypeptide arrays can be synthesized on a substrate by attaching photoremovable groups to the surface of a substrate, exposing selected regions of the substrate to light to activate those regions, attaching an amino acid monomer with a photoremovable group to the activated regions, and repeating the steps of activation and attachment until polypeptides of the desired length and sequences are synthesized. The resulting array can be used to determine which peptides on the array can bind to a receptor.

Abstract: Oligomers of N-substituted glycines, or “peptoids“, represent a new class of polymers (Figure 1) that are not found in nature, but are synthetically accessible and have been shown to possess significant biological activity and proteolytic stability.’ We present here an efficient, automated solid-phase method for the synthesis of oligo(N-substituted glycines) (NSGs) which is general for a wide variety of side-chain substituents and allows the rapid synthesis of molecules of potential therapeutic interest. The original method’ for the synthesis of oligomeric NSGs is analogous to standard solid-phase methods for peptide synthesis. Specifically, the carboxylate of Nu-Fmoc-protected (and sidechain-protected) NSGs is activated and then coupled to the secondary amino group of the resin-bound peptoid chain. Removal of the Fmoc group is then followed by addition of the next monomer. Thus, oligomeric NSGs have been treated as condensation homopolymers of N-substituted glycine. A disadvantage of this approach, however, is the necessity of preparing suitable quantities of a diverse set of protected N-substituted glycine monomers. In the method presented here, each N-substituted glycine monomer is assembled from two readily available “submonomers” in the course of extending the NSG polymer (Scheme I). Thus, oligomeric NSGs can also be considered to be alternating condensation copolymers of a haloacetic acid and a primary amine. As in the original method, the direction of polymer synthesis with the submonomers occurs in the carboxy to amino direction. The solid-phase assembly of each monomer, in the course of controlled polymer formation, eliminates the need for N*-protected monomers, as only reactive side-chain functionalities need to be protected. The a-haloacetyl submonomer is common to all cycles of chain extension. Moreover, each RNH2 submonomer is simpler in structure and many are commercially available; thus, oligo(NSG) synthesis is dramatically simplified. The preparation of NSG oligomers by the submonomer method2

Abstract: A method is suggested for the synthesis of multicomponent peptide mixtures. The method is a solid phase synthesis modified in order to give a closely equimolar mixture of peptides with predetermined sequences. The main point of modification is that before every coupling cycle the resin is divided into equal parts and each portion is coupled with a different amino acid. Then the portions are mixed and before the next coupling cycle the resin is again distributed into equal portions. The method is illustrated by the synthesis of a mixture of 27 tetrapeptides and that of 180 pentapeptides.