An automatic apparatus for the synthesis of peptides using resin coated glass beads in the form of a packed bed

Multiple continuous-flow solid-phase peptide synthesis. Synthesis of an HIV antigenic peptide and its omission analogues

Multiple continuous-flow solid-phase peptide synthesis was performed on a standard polystyrene-based resin under low-pressure conditions using a simple manually operated synthesizer. Stable-flow resin-packed columns were prepared in small polypropylene flow reactors, adjustable for volume. The concurrent synthesis of 10 peptides was carried out in flow reactors concatenated together; solvents and reactants were passed through this set of columns using moderate overpressure. One decapeptide, H-Val-Tyr-Tyr-Arg-Asp-Ser-Arg-Asn-Pro-Leu-NH2, containing an antigenic determinant of the p31 protein product of the pol gene of the human immunodeficiency virus, and its nine omission analogues were synthesized.

An apparatus for simultaneous manual solid-phase synthesis of multiple peptide analogs

A new design of reaction vessel for simultaneous manual solid-phase synthesis of multiple peptide analogs is described. Simultaneous use of four of these vessels attached to a single rotary mixer has been successfully applied to synthesis of two sets of four decapeptide amide analogs. Efficient coupling was indicated by chemical determination at the end of each synthesis cycle and overall final yields of between 78 and 84% were obtained. The products obtained were of a high quality, as assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography and amino acid analysis. This system allows expeditious synthesis of multiple peptide analogs for structure-function studies with economical use of efficiently ventilated laboratory space.

Solid-phase peptide synthesis under continuous-flow conditions

A system is described for solid-phase synthesis of peptides under continuous-flow conditions with liquid chromatographic equipment, conventional polystyrene supports, and well-defined chemistry. The model tetrapeptide Leu-Ala-Gly-Val was assembled in 99.3% purity in about 4 hr on microporous copoly(styrene-1% divinylbenzene). During coupling, the preformed symmetric anhydrides were conserved by being recycled. Relative yields of the peptide products were determined quantitatively in 20 min by reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography. This rapid assay system was used to examine the influence on product yields of (i) the time and number of couplings per cycle, (ii) microporous versus macroporous polystyrene, and (iii) tert-butoxycarbonyl (Boc) group versus 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl for amine protection. Use of microporous polystyrene and two 30-min couplings of Boc-amino acids per cycle gave the best results. This continuous-flow system provides a rapid and efficient approach to solid-phase peptide synthesis. A 17-residue peptide from chicken ovalbumin was obtained in similar purity and yield from a discontinuous synthesis and from a continuous-flow synthesis.