Incorporation of Indoylated Phenylalanine Yields a Sub-Micromolar Selective Melanocortin-4 Receptor Antagonist Tetrapeptide.

The melanocortin family is involved in many physiological functions, including pigmentation, steroidogenesis, and appetite. The centrally expressed melanocortin-3 and melanocortin-4 receptors (MC3R and MC4R) possess overlapping but distinct roles in energy homeostasis. Herein, the third and fourth positions of a tetrapeptide lead compound [Ac-Arg-Arg-(pI)DPhe-Tic-NH2], previously reported to possess MC3R agonist and MC4R antagonist activities, were substituted with indoylated phenylalanine (Wsf/Wrf) residues in an attempt to generate receptor subtype selective compounds. At the third position, d-amino acids were required for melanocortin agonist activity, while both l- and d-residues resulted in MC4R antagonist activity. These results indicate that l-indoylated phenylalanine residues at the third position of the scaffold can generate MC4R over MC3R selective antagonist ligands, resulting in a substitution pattern that may be exploited for novel MC4R ligands that can be used to probe the in vivo activity of the MC4R without involvement of the MC3R.

Tryptophan Analogues with Fixed Side-Chain Orientation: Expanding the Scope.

A generalized synthetic strategy is proposed here for the synthesis of asymmetric ß-indoylated amino acids by 8-aminoquinoline (8AQ)-directed C(sp3)-H functionalization of suitably protected precursors. Peptides containing one of the four stereoisomers of (indol-3-yl)-3-phenylalanine at position 2 of the parent peptide KwFwLL-NH2 (w=d-Trp) cover a wide range of activities as ghrelin receptor inverse agonists, among them the most active described until now. This application exemplarily shows how ß-indoylated amino acids can be used for the systematic variation of the position of an indole group in a bioactive peptide.

Directed C(sp3)-H arylation of tryptophan: transformation of the directing group into an activated amide.

The 8-aminoquinoline (8AQ) directed C(sp3)-H functionalization was applied in the synthesis of ß-arylated tryptophan derivatives. The laborious protecting group reorganization towards α-amino acids compatible for solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) was cut short by the transformation of the directing group into an activated amide, which was either used directly in peptide coupling or in the gram scale synthesis of storable Fmoc-protected amino acids for SPPS. In this work, directed C-H activation and nonplanar amide chemistry complement each other for the synthesis of hybrids between phenylalanine and tryptophan with restricted side chain mobility.

Side Chain Orientation of Tryptophan Analogues Determines Agonism and Inverse Agonism in Short Ghrelin Peptides.

We describe two synthetic amino acids with inverted side chain stereochemistry, which induce opposite biological activity. Phe4 is an important part of the activation motif of ghrelin, and in short peptide inverse agonists such as KwFwLL-NH2 , the aromatic core is necessary for inactivation of the receptor. To restrict indole/phenyl mobility and simultaneously strengthen the interaction between peptide and receptor, we exchanged the natural monoaryl amino acids for diaryl amino acids derived from tryptophan. By standard solid-phase peptide synthesis, each of them was inserted into ghrelin or in the aromatic core of the inverse agonist. Both ghrelin analogues showed nanomolar activity, indicating sufficient space to accommodate the additional side chain. In contrast, diaryl amino acids in the inverse agonist had considerable influence on receptor signaling. Whereas the introduction of Wsf maintains inverse agonism of the peptide, Wrf shifts the receptor more to active states and can induce agonism depending on its introduction site.