Development of efficient methods for accomplishing cysteine-free peptide and glycopeptide coupling

Biomimetic construction of phospholipid membranes by direct aminolysis ligations

Construction of artificial cells requires the development of straightforward methods for mimicking natural phospholipid membrane formation. Here we describe the use of direct aminolysis ligations to spontaneously generate biomimetic phospholipid membranes from water-soluble starting materials. Additionally, we explore the suitability of such biomimetic approaches for driving the in situ formation of native phospholipid membranes. Our studies suggest that non-enzymatic ligation reactions could have been important for the synthesis of phospholipid-like membranes during the origin of life, and might be harnessed as simplified methods to enable the generation of lipid compartments in artificial cells.

A Hitchhiker's Guide to Problem Selection in Carbohydrate Synthesis

Oligosaccharides are ubiquitous in molecular biology and are used for functions ranging from governing protein folding to intercellular communication. Perhaps paradoxically, the exact role of the glycan in most of these settings is not well understood. One reason for this contradiction concerns the fact that carbohydrates often appear in heterogeneous form in nature. These mixtures complicate the isolation of pure material and characterization of structure-activity relationships. As a result, a major bottleneck in glycoscience research is the synthesis and modification of pure materials. While synthetic and chemoenzymatic methods have enabled access to homogeneous tool compounds, a central problem, particularly for newer synthetic chemists, is the matter of problem selection. This outlook aims to provide an entry level overview of fundamental principles in carbohydrate chemistry with an eye toward enabling solutions to frontier challenges.

Harnessing the power of transition metals in solid-phase peptide synthesis and key steps in the (semi)synthesis of proteins

Peptides and proteins can be either synthesized using solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) or by applying a combination of SPPS and ligation approaches to address fundamental questions related to human health and disease, among others. The demand for their production either by chemical or biological methods continues to raise significant interests from the synthetic community. In this context, transition metals such as Pd, Ag, Hg, Tl, Au, Zn, Ni, and Cu have also contributed to the field of peptide and protein synthesis such as in peptide conjugation, extending native chemical ligation (NCL), and for regioselective disulfide bonds formation. In this review, we highlight, summarize, and evaluate the use of various transition metals in the chemical synthesis of peptides and proteins with emphasis on recent developments in this exciting research area.

Acyl donors for native chemical ligation

Native chemical ligation (NCL) has become one of the most important methods in chemical syntheses of proteins. Recently, in order to expand its scope, considerable effort has been devoted to tuning the C-terminal acyl donor thioesters used in NCL. This article reviews the recent advances in the design of C-terminal acyl donors, their precursors and surrogates, and highlights some noteworthy progress that may lead the future direction of protein chemical synthesis.

The C-Terminal O-S Acyl Shift Pathway under Acidic Condition to Propose Peptide-Thioesters

Peptide-thioester is a pivotal intermediate for peptide ligation and N-, C-terminal cyclization. In this study, desired pathway and the side products of two C-terminal handles, hydroxyethylthiol (HET) and hydroxypropylthiol (HPT) are described in different conditions as well as kinetic studies. In addition, a new mechanism of C-terminal residue racemization is proposed on the basis of differentiation of products derived from the two C-terminal handles in preparing peptide thioesters through an acid-catalyzed tandem thiol switch, first by an intramolecular O-S acyl shift, and then by an intermolecular S-S exchange.

Peptide 2-formylthiophenol esters do not proceed through a Ser/Thr ligation pathway, but participate in a peptide aminolysis to enable peptide condensation and cyclization

Peptide thiol salicylaldehyde esters unexpectedly do not follow a Ser/Thr ligation pathway, but proceed towards a peptide aminolysis in DMSO.

Patchwork protein chemistry: a practitioner's treatise on the advances in synthetic peptide stitchery

With the study of peptides and proteins at the heart of many scientific endeavors, the omics era heralded a multitude of opportunities for chemists and biologists alike. Across the interface with life sciences, peptide chemistry plays an indispensable role, and progress made over the past decades now allows proteins to be treated as molecular patchworks stitched together through synthetic tailoring. The continuous elaboration of sophisticated strategies notwithstanding, Merrifield's solid-phase methodology remains a cornerstone of chemical protein design. Although the non-practitioner might misjudge peptide synthesis as trivial, routine, or dull given its long history, we comment here on its many advances, obstacles, and prospects from a practitioner's point of view. While sharing our perspectives through thematic highlights across the literature, this treatise provides an interpretive overview as a guide to novices, and a recap for specialists.

Synthesis of full length and truncated microcin B17 analogues as DNA gyrase poisons

Using a combination of solid-phase peptide synthesis and fragment assembly strategies a library of full-length and truncated analogues of the antibacterial post-translationally modified peptide microcin B17 have been synthesised. Both antibacterial and DNA gyrase poisoning activities are also described for the synthetic analogues.

The winding pathway to erythropoietin along the chemistry-biology frontier: a success at last

The total synthesis of a homogeneous erythropoietin (EPO), possessing the native amino acid sequence and chitobiose glycans at each of the three wild-type sites of N glycosylation, has been accomplished in our laboratory. We provide herein an account of our decade-long research effort en route to this formidable target compound. The optimization of the synergy of the two bedrock sciences we now call biology and chemistry was central to the success of the synthesis of EPO.

Toward Homogeneous Erythropoietin: Application of Metal Free Dethiylation in the Chemical Synthesis of the Ala79-Arg166 Glycopeptide Domain

We describe herein the assembly of hEPO(79-166), a key glycopeptide segment en route to erythropoietin, in minimally protected form. Key to the success of this synthetic endeavor was the application of our two-step cysteine-free native chemical ligation strategy, by which we achieved formal ligation at alanine and proline residues through the use of an N-terminal amino acid surrogate presenting a readily removable thiol functionality.

Mixed-phase synthesis of glycopeptides using a N-peptidyl-2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonamide-thioacid ligation strategy

A strategy for the solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and coupling of N-peptidyl and N-glycopeptidyl 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonamides (dNBS) with C-terminal peptidyl thioacids has been developed. The resulting N-dDNBS peptides were coupled to generate longer peptides. Ligation reactions were complete within 15 to 20 min.

Peptide ligations accelerated by N-terminal aspartate and glutamate residues

A novel application of intramolecular base catalysis confers enhanced reaction rates for aminolysis ligations between peptide thioesters and peptides bearing N-terminal aspartate or glutamate residues. The broad scope of this process and its application in the total synthesis of the diabetes drug exenatide is demonstrated.

Fmoc synthesis of peptide thioesters without post-chain-assembly manipulation

An operationally simple method for the synthesis of peptide thioesters is developed using standard Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis procedures. The method relies on the use of a premade enamide-containing amino acid which, in the final TFA cleavage step, renders the desired thioester functionality through an irreversible intramolecular N-to-S acyl transfer.

An advance in proline ligation

Native chemical ligation (NCL) is widely applicable for building proteins in the laboratory. Since the discovery of this method, many strategies have been developed to enhance its capability and efficiency. Because of the poor reactivity of proline thioesters, ligation at a C-terminal proline site is not readily accomplished. Here, we demonstrate that ligation at an N-terminal protein is feasible using the combined logic of NCL and metal-free dethiylation (MFD).

Design and synthesis of antifreeze glycoproteins and mimics

Antifreeze glycoproteins are an important class of biological antifreezes that have potential applications in many areas of medicine, agriculture and industry in which ice crystal growth is damaging. While the synthesis of antifreeze glycoproteins as pure glycoforms has recently been achieved by using ligation and polymerisation strategies, the routine production of large quantities of pure glycoforms remains challenging. A range of C-linked analogues that are readily produced by solid-phase synthesis have delivered novel compounds that are not biological antifreezes, but are potent, non-cytotoxic, ice-recrystallisation inhibitors. Structure-activity studies, the identification of cyclic antifreeze glycoproteins and conformational studies have provided further insight into the requirements for antifreeze activity. These results, coupled with significant advances in approaches to the routine synthesis of different glycoproteins and mimics, present opportunities for the design and synthesis of novel ice-growth-inhibiting and antifreeze compounds.

Total synthesis of microcin B17 via a fragment condensation approach

The total synthesis of the 43 amino acid antibacterial peptide Microcin B17 (MccB17) is described. The natural product was synthesized via a convergent approach from a heterocycle-derived peptide and peptide thioester fragments prepared via Fmoc-strategy solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). Final assembly was achieved in an efficient manner using two Ag(I)-assisted peptide ligation reactions to afford MccB17 in excellent overall yield.

Insights into the finer issues of native chemical ligation: an approach to cascade ligations

An efficient and broadly useful two-step ligation protocol is developed. Important mechanistic issues of ligation were probed from diastereomeric competition studies on the formation of the ligation products. We also report an instance of kinetically controlled ligation through the exploitation of selectivity differences between related N-termini. This study potentially provides a valuable approach to facilitate polypeptide synthesis by minimizing protecting group manipulations and intermediate isolations..

Promising general solution to the problem of ligating peptides and glycopeptides

Our global goal is that of synthesizing complex polypeptides and glycopeptides in homogeneous form. Chemistry-derived access to homogeneous biologics could well have useful consequences in the discovery of drugs and vaccines. The key finding in this study is that thio acids can become highly competent acyl donors following even trace levels of oxidative activation, thereby undergoing amide bond formation upon reaction with N-terminal peptides. Though our data set does not establish the specific mechanism of this reaction, a framework to account for the fact that minute levels of oxidation actuate amide bond formation with high turnover is offered. An apparently general coupling of thio acids (including complex peptide thio acids with N-termini of complex peptides) has thus been realized. These ligations are conducted with minimal α-epimerization in the C-terminal group and allow for the coupling of N-terminal and C-terminal glycopeptides en route to homogeneous glycoproteins.

Toward fully synthetic, homogeneous glycoproteins: advances in chemical ligation

Traditionally, in the pharma sciences, there has been an unstated but operative bifurcation into small molecules and biologics. Small molecules were seen to be, at the discovery level, in the province of chemistry, based on targets provided through biology. By contrast, "biologics" were seen to arise solely from the province of biology exploiting its accessible replicative mechanisms. Our laboratory has been dedicated to the proposition that explosive advances in chemical synthesis have been such as to render so called "biologics" as being accessible to chemical synthesis. In this article, we focus particularly on the area of glycopeptides. Chemical synthesis, in principle, offers an advantage, in that it can lead to homogeneous glycopeptides characterized by a single glycoform of the glycosidic domain mounted at a particular amino acid in the polypeptide domain. In support of this defining goal, a variety of new methods have been developed. The key problem addressed is that of ligation. In this article, we review how insights available from mechanistic organic chemistry have been used to create an imposing framework for the synthesis of structures which would, in an earlier day, have been seen to be strictly in the realm of chemically inaccessible "biologics".

Synthesis of small glycopeptides by decarboxylative condensation and insight into the reaction mechanism

The chemical synthesis of homogeneous glycoproteins and glycopeptides facilitates progress toward understanding the functional role of carbohydrates attached to proteins and is important in the preparation of glycopeptide-based therapeutics. A series of protected and unprotected glycosyl dipeptides, glycopeptide I, which contained the alpha-ketoacid moiety at the C-terminus, were synthesized and ligated with a series of O-tert-butyl-protected N-hydroxylamino acids to afford O-tert-butyl-protected glycosyl tripeptides, glycopeptide II. The reactions were carried out under both anhydrous and aqueous conditions at neutral pH to produce glycopeptide products in yields ranging from 15% to 86% depending on the amino acids present at the ligation junction. The best yields were obtained when both the alpha-ketoacid and the N-hydroxylamino acid contained medium-sized side chains. In addition to the expected tripeptide product, 2,5-substituted oxazoles were isolated when O-tert-butyl protected N-hydroxylamines of glycine were employed in the reaction. The formation of the oxazole is believed to result from an intramolecular cyclization of the O-tert-butyl ester on a nitrilium ion intermediate followed by aromatization. A decarboxylative condensation between O(18)-labeled phenyl pyruvic acid and N-hydroxyphenethylamine oxalate salt resulted in amide products lacking the O(18)-label, providing further support for the nitrilium ion in the reaction pathway.