9-Fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-based solid-phase synthesis of peptide α-thioesters

Peptide thioesters play a key role in convergent protein synthesis strategies such as native chemical ligation, traceless Staudinger ligation, and Ag(+) -mediated thioester ligation. The Boc-based solid-phase synthesis provides a very reliable access to peptide thioesters. However, the acid lability of many peptide modifications and the requirements of most parallel peptide synthesizers call for the milder Fmoc-based solid-phase synthesis. The Fmoc-based synthesis of peptide thioesters is more cumbersome and typically proceeds with lower yields than the synthesis of peptide acids and peptide amides. The success of native chemical ligation and related technologies has sparked intensive research effort devoted to the development of new methods. The recent progress in this rapidly expanding field is reviewed.     

Peptide dithiodiethanol esters for in situ generation of thioesters for use in native ligation

A new approach is described for the general Fmoc-based solid-phase synthesis of C-terminal peptide (thio)esters. One hydroxy group of 2,2-dithiodiethanol (used in large excess) was anchored on trityl resin, and the remaining hydroxy group was loaded with the first amino acid. Standard chain elongation and TFA-based peptide release yielded peptide C-terminal dithiodiethanol esters in good purities. Under standard conditions of native chemical ligation (excess thiol, neutral pH), the dithiodiethanol function is presumably reduced and rearranged (or equilibrated) to the thioester via a 5-membered intermediate. The resulting thioesters are shown to undergo native chemical ligation with N-terminal cysteine peptides. Notably, hydrolysis of the reduced ester is a major competing reaction, especially in the presence of 6 M guanidinium chloride, which is often required for solubilization of large peptide fragments.     

Fmoc-based synthesis of peptide alpha-thioesters using an aryl hydrazine support

C-Terminal peptide thioesters are key intermediates in the synthesis/semisynthesis of proteins and of cyclic peptides by native chemical ligation. They are prepared by solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) or biosynthetically by protein splicing techniques. Until recently, the chemical synthesis of C-terminal alpha-thioester peptides by SPPS was largely restricted to the use of Boc/Benzyl chemistry due to the poor stability of the thioester bond to the basic conditions required for the deprotection of the N(alpha)-Fmoc group. In the present work, we describe a new method for the SPPS of C-terminal thioesters using Fmoc/t-Bu chemistry. This method is based on the use of an aryl hydrazine linker, which is totally stable to conditions required for Fmoc-SPPS. When the peptide synthesis has been completed, activation of the linker is achieved by mild oxidation. This step converts the acyl hydrazine group into a highly reactive acyl diazene intermediate which reacts with an alpha-amino acid alkyl thioester (H-AA-SR) to yield the corresponding peptide alpha-thioester in good yield. This method has been successfully used to prepare a variety of peptide thioesters, cyclic peptides, and a fully functional Src homology 3 (SH3) protein domain.     

Extended sugar-assisted glycopeptide ligations: development, scope, and applications

Recently, we reported the development of sugar-assisted ligation (SAL), a novel peptide ligation method for the synthesis of glycopeptides. After screening a large number of glycoprotein sequences in a glycoprotein database, it became evident that a large proportion (approximately 53%) of O-glycosylation sites contain amino acid residues that will not undergo SAL reactions. To overcome these inherent limitations and broaden the scope of the method we report here the development of an extended SAL method. Glycopeptides containing up to six amino acid extensions N-terminal to the glycosylated residue were shown to facilitate ligation reactions with peptide thioesters, and these products were isolated in good yields. Kinetic analysis was used to show that as glycopeptides were extended by further amino acid residues, ligation reactions became slower. This finding was rationalized by molecular dynamics simulations using AMBER9. These studies suggested a general trend whereby the proximal distance between the reactive sites of the thioester intermediate (the N-terminal amine and the carbonyl carbon of the thioester) increased as glycopeptides were extended, thus slowing down the ligation rate. Each of the extended SAL methods showed broad tolerance to a number of different amino acid combinations at the ligation junction. Re-evaluation of the glycoprotein database suggested that 95% of the O-linked glycosylation sites can now be utilized to facilitate SAL or extended SAL reactions. As such, this method represents an extremely valuable tool for the synthesis of naturally occurring glycopeptides and glycoproteins. To demonstrate the applicability of the method, extended SAL was successfully implemented in the synthesis of the starting unit of the cancer-associated MUC1 glycoprotein.     

Fmoc solid-phase synthesis of peptide thioesters by masking as trithioortho esters

[reaction: see text] Total chemical synthesis of proteins by chemoselective ligation relies on C-terminal peptide thioesters as building blocks. Their preparation by standard Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis is made difficult by the lability of thioesters to aminolysis by the secondary amines used for removal of the Fmoc group. Here we present a novel backbone amide linker (BAL) strategy for their synthesis in which the thioester functionality is masked as a trithioortho ester throughout the synthesis.     

Peptide thioester formation using standard Fmoc-chemistry

A highly efficient and simple Fmoc-based preparation of peptide ^αthioesters is presented. After Fmoc/t-butyl solid-phase synthesis on 2-chlorotrityl resin the C-terminal carboxylic group of the protected peptide is directly converted to the corresponding thioester. The method leads to very high yields, shows a low level of epimerization and can be easily applied also for the preparation of long peptide ^αthioesters as demonstrated for the 41 amino acid N-terminal fragment of pro-neuropeptide Y (proNPY 1-40).     

Facile peptide thioester synthesis via solution-phase tosylamide preparation

Preparation of peptide thioester is essential for native chemical ligation and block condensation. Our novel methodology involves conversion of the carboxylic acid of a peptide into a thioester using p-toluenesulfonyl isocyanate, followed by alkylation, then thiol substitution. Our methodology can also be used for the preparation of glycopeptide thioesters. Furthermore, it is possible to carry out the reaction as a sequential peptide chemical ligation.     

Application of serine- and threonine-derived cyclic sulfamidates for the preparation of S-linked glycosyl amino acids in solution- and solid-phase peptide synthesis

Cyclic sulfamidates were synthesized in 60% yield from L-serine and allo-L-threonine, respectively. These sulfamidates reacted with a variety of unprotected 1-thio sugars in aqueous bicarbonate buffer (pH 8) to afford the corresponding S-linked serine- and threonine-glycosyl amino acids with good diastereoselectivity (> or =97%) after hydrolysis of the N-sulfates. The serine-derived sulfamidate was incorporated into a simple dipeptide to generate a reactive dipeptide substrate that underwent chemoselective ligation with a 1-thio sugar to afford an S-linked glycopeptide. This sulfamidate was also incorporated into a peptide on a solid support in conjunction with solid-phase peptide synthesis. Chemoselective ligation of a 1-thio sugar with the cyclic sulfamidate was achieved on the solid support, followed by removal of the N-sulfate. Finally, the peptide chain of the resulting support-bound S-linked glycopeptide was extended using standard peptide synthesis procedures.     

Glycopeptide ligation via direct aminolysis of selenoester

In this work, the selenoester of unprotected glycopeptide was readily prepared, and the direct aminolysis of glycopeptide selenoester was successfully applied to synthesize MUC1 mucin sequence.     

Application of Pac Ester in Thioester Method for the Synthesis of Cyclopentapeptides

Thioester method for the synthesis of cyclopeptides is improved by using Pac (Pac = phenacyl, CH2COC6Hs) ester as a protecting group of 3-mercaptopropionic acid. The Pac group is easy to be removed from C-terminal with zinc in acetic acid. The protected glycine thioester and peptide thioesters synthesized by the improved method, are easy to be purified, so the final linear peptides are pure enough for the following cyclization. Furthermore, this method is flexible for peptide chain elongation,either from C-termlnal or from N.terminal. So it is an efficient and practical method for synthesis of bioactive peptides. Two N-protected pentapeptide thioesters, Boc-Pro-Tyr-Leu-Ala-GIySCH2CH2COOPac and Boc-Ala-Tyr-Leu-Ala-Gly-SCH2CH2COOPac were synthesized by the improved thloester method.After deprotecting Pac ester with zinc in aqueous acetic acid and Boc group with trifluoroacetic acid in CH2C12, two free pentapeptide tldoesters were obtained. Ag^ -assisted cyclization in acetate buffered solution afforded two cyclic pentapeptides c(Pro-Tyr-Leu-Ala-Gly) and c(Ala-Tyr-Leu-Ala-Gly).Effects of different buffer pH, different Ag^ concentrations, etc. on the cyclization were studied.     

Design of thiol-containing amino acids for native chemical ligation at non-Cys sites

<正>Protein chemical synthesis usually relies on the use of native chemical ligation that couples peptide thioester with a Cys-peptide.A limitation of this method is the difficulty of finding an appropriate Cys ligation site in many synthetic targets.To overcome this problem,the ligation-desulfurization approach has been developed.This approach involves the use of a thiol-containing amino acid as the ligation partner.After the sequence assembly is completed,the thiol group is removed through a desulfurization reaction to generate the standard amino acids.Currently this strategy has been applied to the ligations at a number of amino acids including Ala,Phe,Val,Lys,Thr,Leu,Pro and Gln.The present article reviews the design and synthesis of these thiol-containing amino acids for native chemical ligation at non-Cys sites.     

One‐Pot/Sequential Native Chemical Ligation Using N‐Sulfanylethylanilide Peptide

N‐Sulfanylethylanilide (SEAlide) peptides were developed with the aim of achieving facile synthesis of peptide thioesters by 9‐fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc)‐based solid‐phase peptide synthesis (Fmoc SPPS). Initially, SEAlide peptides were found to be converted to the corresponding peptide thioesters under acidic conditions. However, the SEAlide moiety was proved to function as a thioester in the presence of phosphate salts and to participate in native chemical ligation (NCL) with N‐terminal cysteinyl peptides, and this has served as a powerful protein synthesis methodology. The reactivity of a SEAlide peptide (anilide vs. thioester) can be easily tuned with or without the use of phosphate salts. This interesting property of SEAlide peptides allows sequential three‐fragment or unprecedented four‐fragment ligation for efficient one‐pot peptide/protein synthesis. Furthermore, dual‐kinetically controlled ligation, which enables three peptide fragments simultaneously present in the reaction to be ligated in the correct order, was first achieved using a SEAlide peptide. Beyond our initial expectations, SEAlide peptides have served in protein chemistry fields as very useful crypto‐peptide thioesters. DOI 10.1002/tcr.201200007     

Toward fully synthetic glycoproteins by ultimately convergent routes: a solution to a long-standing problem

A method is disclosed for the convergent synthesis of multiply glycosylated peptides. The approach centers on a convergent technique for generating masked, complex glycopeptide-containing C-terminal acyl donors. Activation of the latent donor in situ and use directly in segment coupling with a second peptide bearing a complex carbohydrate produces a completely unprotected, bifunctional glycopeptide. The system demonstrates a minimum level of hydrolysis and epimerization at the C-terminal amino acid residue of the acyl donor during fully convergent segment coupling and is therefore a powerful tool for the synthesis of glycoproteins.     

Peptide and glycopeptide dendrimer apple trees as enzyme models and for biomedical applications

Solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) provides peptides with a dendritic topology when diamino acids are introduced in the sequences. Peptide dendrimers with one to three amino acids between branches can be prepared with up to 38 amino acids (MW ~ 5,000 Da). Larger peptide dendrimers (MW ~ 30,000) were obtained by a multivalent chloroacetyl cysteine (ClAc) ligation. Structural studies of peptide dendrimers by CD, FT-IR, NMR and molecular dynamics reveal molten globule states containing up to 50% of α-helix. Esterase and aldolase peptide dendrimers displaying dendritic effects and enzyme kinetics (k(cat)/k(uncat) ~ 10(5)) were designed or discovered by screening large combinatorial libraries. Strong ligands for Pseudomonas aeruginosa lectins LecA and LecB able to inhibit biofilm formation were obtained with glycopeptide dendrimers. Efficient ligands for cobalamin, cytotoxic colchicine conjugates and antimicrobial peptide dendrimers were also developed showing the versatility of dendritic peptides. Complementing the multivalency, the amino acid composition of the dendrimers strongly influenced the catalytic or biological activity obtained demonstrating the importance of the "apple tree" configuration for protein-like function in peptide dendrimers.     

Native chemical ligation of hydrolysis-resistant 3'-peptidyl-tRNA mimics

Hydrolysis-resistant 3'-peptidyl-RNA conjugates that mimic tRNA termini represent a remarkable synthetic challenge, particularly if they contain amino acids with complex side-chain functionalities, such as arginines. Here we demonstrate a novel approach that combines solid-phase synthesis and bioconjugation to obtain these derivatives with high efficiency and purity. The key step is native chemical ligation of 3'-cysteinyl-RNA fragments to highly soluble peptide thioesters. The so-prepared 3'-peptidyl-RNA conjugates relate to resistance peptides that can render the ribosome resistant to macrolide antibiotics by a yet unknown ribosomal translation mechanism.     

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.     

Recent progress in the solid-phase synthesis of glycopeptide

The recent understanding of the biological role of glycoproteins has brought about a demand for the highly homogeneous glycopeptides as the functional model for glycoproteins. Thus, much efforts have been made to establish easy and efficient method for glycopeptide synthesis. In this paper, we briefly review the recent advances in the synthesis of O- and N-linked glycopeptide based on the solid-phase method. In O-glycopeptide section, the preparation of glycosylated amino acid units with mucin type and other O-linked carbohydrate chains and their use for solid-phase synthesis are summarized. Other approaches, such as the glycosylation of resin bound peptide are also overviewed. In N-glycopeptide section, the synthesis using glycosylated amino acid units as well as other methods are described.     

Chemical Synthesis of Proteins with Base-Labile Posttranslational Modifications Enabled by a Boc-SPPS Based General Strategy Towards Peptide C-Terminal Salicylaldehyde Esters

Chemical synthesis of proteins bearing base-labile post-translational modifications (PTMs) is a challenging task. For instance, O-acetylation and S-palmitoylation PTMs cannot survive Fmoc removal conditions during Fmoc-solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). In this work, we developed a new Boc-SPPS-based strategy for the synthesis of peptide C-terminal salicylaldehyde (SAL) esters, which are the key reaction partner in Ser/Thr ligation and Cys/Pen ligation. The strategy utilized the semicarbazone-modified aminomethyl (AM) resin, which could support the Boc-SPPS and release the peptide SAL ester upon treatment with TFA/H₂O and pyruvic acid. The non-oxidative aldehyde regeneration was fully compatible with all the canonical amino acids. Armed with this strategy, we finished the syntheses of the O-acetylated protein histone H3(S10ac, T22ac) and the hydrophobic S-palmitoylated peptide derived from caveolin-1.     

Harnessing the chemical activation inherent to carrier protein-bound thioesters for the characterization of lipopeptide fatty acid tailoring enzymes

Here, we report a new experimental approach utilizing an amide ligation reaction for the characterization of acyl carrier protein (ACP)-bound reaction intermediates, which are otherwise difficult to analyze by traditional biochemical methods. To explore fatty acid tailoring enzymes of the calcium-dependent antibiotic (CDA) biosynthetic pathway, this strategy enabled the transformation of modified fatty acids, covalently bound as thioesters to an ACP, into amide ligation products that can be directly analyzed and compared to synthetic standards by HPLC-MS. The driving force of the amide formation is the thermodynamic activation inherent to thioester-bound compounds. Using this novel method, we were able to characterize the ACP-mediated biosynthesis of the unique 2,3-epoxyhexanoyl moiety of CDA, revealing a new type of FAD-dependent oxidase HxcO with intrinsic enoyl-ACP epoxidase activity, as well as a second enoyl-ACP epoxidase, HcmO. In general, our approach should be widely applicable for the in vitro characterization of other biosynthetic systems acting on carrier proteins, such as integrated enzymes from NRPS and PKS assembly lines or tailoring enzymes of fatty and amino acid precursor synthesis.     

Synthetic procedure for N-fmoc amino acyl-N-sulfanylethylaniline linker as crypto-Peptide thioester precursor with application to native chemical ligation

N-Sulfanylethylanilide (SEAlide) peptides 1, obtainable using Fmoc-based solid-phase peptide synthesis (Fmoc SPPS), function as crypto-thioesters in native chemical ligation (NCL), yielding a wide variety of peptides/proteins. Their acylating potential with N-terminal cysteinyl peptides 2 can be tuned by the presence or absence of phosphate salts, leading to one-pot/multifragment ligation, operating under kinetically controlled conditions. SEAlide peptides have already been shown to be promising for use in protein synthesis; however, a widely applicable method for the synthesis of N-Fmoc amino acyl-N-sulfanylethylaniline linkers 4, required for the preparation of SEAlide peptides, is unavailable. The present study addresses the development of efficient condensation protocols of 20 naturally occurring amino acid derivatives to the N-sulfanylethylaniline linker 5. N-Fmoc amino acyl aniline linkers 4 of practical use in NCL chemistry, except in the case of the proline- or aspartic acid-containing linker, were successfully synthesized by coupling of POCl(3)- or SOCl(2)-activated Fmoc amino acid derivatives with sodium anilide species 6, without accompanying racemization and loss of side-chain protection. Furthermore, SEAlide peptides 7 possessing various C-terminal amino acids (Gly, His, Phe, Ala, Asn, Ser, Glu, and Val) were shown to be of practical use in NCL chemistry.