Suppression of epimerization by cupric (II) salts in peptide synthesis using free amino acids as amino components

Epimerisation in Peptide Synthesis

Epimerisation is basically a chemical conversion that includes the transformation of an epimer into another epimer or its chiral partner. Epimerisation of amino acid is a side reaction that sometimes happens during peptide synthesis. It became the most avoided reaction because the process affects the overall conformation of the molecule, eventually even altering the bioactivity of the peptide. Epimerised products have a high similarity of physical characteristics, thus making it difficult for them to be purified. In regards to amino acids, epimerisation is very important in keeping the chirality of the assembled amino acids unchanged during the peptide synthesis and obtaining the desirable product without any problematic purification. In this review, we report several factors that induce epimerisation during peptide synthesis, including how to characterise and affect the bioactivities. To avoid undesirable epimerisation, we also describe several methods of suppressing the process.

A rapid and efficient one-pot method for the reduction of N-protected α-amino acids to chiral α-amino aldehydes using CDI/DIBAL-H

N-Protected α-amino acids can be easily converted directly into chiral α-amino aldehydes in a one-pot procedure by activation with CDI followed by reduction with DIBAL-H.