ABSTRACT
An optimized automated PNA synthesis protocol is reported. Under optimal conditions the product yield of a test 17-mer PNA is approximately 90%. The average coupling yield is 99.4%. The synthesis strategy is Boc/Z and the deprotected amine is neutralized in situ. The monomers are added in molar excess to HATU and pre-activated for 60 s before delivery to the resin. The concentration of the activated monomers is 0.08 M during the couplings. Heteroselective solvation provides the highest coupling yields. Acetic anhydride is used as capping reagent followed by a piperidine wash. The protocol has been developed in a 5 mumol scale but is easily scaled up to 10-50 mumol scale syntheses on the automated synthesizer (ABI 433A).
Subject(s)
Nucleic Acids/chemical synthesis , Peptides/chemical synthesis , Biopolymers , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid , Glycine/analogs & derivatives , Glycine/chemistry , Piperidines/chemistry , Purines/chemistry , Pyrimidinones/chemistry , Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-IonizationABSTRACT
Excellent results have been obtained for the Fmoc solid-phase syntheses of peptides using the activating reagent 2-(1H-benzotriazol-1-yl)-1,1,3,3,-tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate (HBTU). Activation occurs very rapidly in N,N-dimethylformamide and N-methyl-pyrrolidone, optimal solvents for peptide-resin solvation. It has been observed that complete coupling reactions occur in only 10-30 min. Residues such as Arg, Ile, Leu and Val, which often require double coupling by other activation methods, react with high efficiency by single coupling when HBTU is used. The Fmoc/HBTU chemistry has recently been applied to the peptide synthesizers. The incorporation of trityl side-chain protection for Fmoc-Asn and Fmoc-Gln further enhances coupling efficiencies in difficult sequences.
Subject(s)
Fluorenes , Peptides/chemical synthesis , Triazoles , Urea/analogs & derivatives , Amino Acid Sequence , Amino Acids/analysis , Automation , Kinetics , Molecular Sequence Data , Piperidines/analysisABSTRACT
Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), a protein of 70 amino acid residues and 3 cystine bridges, has been synthesized by two solid phase Boc methods. The first method used N-methylpyrrolidinone as the solvent with single coupling cycles while the second synthesis used dimethylformamide and dichloromethane as the solvents with a double-coupling protocol. In both cases, trifluoroacetic acid/trifluoromethanesulphonic acid cleavage of the peptide from the resin was employed. Purification of the cleavage products followed by removal of the S-acetamidomethyl protecting groups gave reduced peptides which were then oxidized under conditions favouring the formation of the correct disulphide bonds. The purified synthetic IGF-I peptides were full agonists of natural IGF-I in a radioimmunoassay, in an IGF-I radioreceptor assay, in a bioassay which measures the stimulation of protein synthesis in rat L6 myoblasts and in an IGF-binding protein competitive binding assay. Moreover, in each of these assays, the synthetic IGF peptides were found to be at least 70% as potent as natural IGF-I.
