A gradient descent algorithm for minimizing amino acid coupling reactions when synthesizing cyclic-peptide libraries

Combinatorial chemistry has become an invaluable tool in medicinal chemistry for the identification of new drug leads. For example, libraries of predetermined sequences and head-to-tail cyclized peptides are routinely synthesized in our laboratory using the IRORI approach. Such libraries are used as molecular toolkits that enable the development of pharmacophores that define activity and specificity at receptor targets. These libraries can be quite large and difficult to handle, due to physical and chemical constraints imposed by their size. Therefore, smaller sub-libraries are often targeted for synthesis. The number of coupling reactions required can be greatly reduced if the peptides having common amino acids are grouped into the same sub-library (batching). This paper describes a schedule optimizer to minimize the number of coupling reactions by rotating and aligning sequences while simultaneously batching. The gradient descent method thereby reduces the number of coupling reactions required for synthesizing cyclic peptide libraries. We show that the algorithm results in a 75% reduction in the number of coupling reactions for a typical cyclic peptide library.     

Synthesis of [(HIPTNCH2CH2)3N]V compounds (HIPT = 3,5-(2,4,6-i-Pr3C6H2)2C6H3) and an evaluation of vanadium for the reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia

Green [HIPTN3N]V(THF) ([HIPTN3N]3- = [(HIPTNCH2CH2)3N]3-, where HIPT = 3,5-(2,4,6-i-Pr3C6H2)2C6H3) can be prepared in a 70-80% yield via the addition of H3[HIPTN3N] to VCl3(THF)3 in THF, followed by the addition of LiN(SiMe3)2. From [HIPTN3N]V(THF), the following have been prepared: {[HIPTN3N]VN2}K, [HIPTN3N]V(NH3), [HIPTN3N]V=NH, [HIPTN3N]V=NSiMe3, [HIPTN3N]V=O, [HIPTN3N]V=S, and [HIPTN3N]V(CO). No ammonia is formed from dinitrogen using {[HIPTN3N]VN2}K, [HIPTN3N]V=NH, or [HIPTN3N]V(NH3) as the initial species under conditions that were successful in the analogous [HIPTN3N]Mo system. X-ray structural studies are reported for [HIPTN3N]V(THF) and [HIPTN3N]V(NH3).     

An activated O --> N acyl transfer auxiliary: efficient amide-backbone substitution of hindered "difficult" peptides

Overcoming the phenomenon known as "difficult" synthetic sequences has been a major goal in solid-phase peptide synthesis for over 30 years. In this work the advantages of amide backbone-substitution in the solid-phase synthesis of "difficult" peptides are augmented by developing an activated N(alpha)()-acyl transfer auxiliary. Apart from disrupting troublesome intermolecular hydrogen-bonding networks, the primary function of the activated N(alpha)()-auxiliary was to facilitate clean and efficient acyl capture of large or beta-branched amino acids and improve acyl transfer yields to the secondary N(alpha)()-amine. We found o-hydroxyl-substituted nitrobenzyl (Hnb) groups were suitable N(alpha)()-auxiliaries for this purpose. The relative acyl transfer efficiency of the Hnb auxiliary was superior to the 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzyl (Hmb) auxiliary with protected amino acids of varying size. Significantly, this difference in efficiency was more pronounced between more sterically demanding amino acids. The Hnb auxiliary is readily incorporated at the N(alpha)()-amine during SPPS by reductive alkylation of its corresponding benzaldehyde derivative and conveniently removed by mild photolysis at 366 nm. The usefulness of the Hnb auxiliary for the improvement of coupling efficiencies in the chain-assembly of difficult peptides was demonstrated by the efficient Hnb-assisted Fmoc solid-phase synthesis of a known hindered difficult peptide sequence, STAT-91. This work suggests the Hnb auxiliary will significantly enhance our ability to synthesize difficult polypeptides and increases the applicability of amide-backbone substitution.     

Trace determination of platinum-II. Analysis in ores by pulse polarography after fire-assay collection

A pulse-polarography method is described for the determination of traces of platinum in ores after fire-assay separation and preconcentration. The silver bead from the fire assay is dissolved and treated with ammonia and ethylenediamine to produce a sensitive catalytic polarographic wave. Measurement of the wave by differential pulse polarography allows determination of Pt with a detection limit of 0.0025 ppm. Platinum in ore samples was determined in the range 0.1-0.9 ppm and a correlation coefficient of 0.98 was obtained on comparison with AAS results.     

A versatile synthetic approach to peptidyl privileged structures using a "safety-catch" linker

Peptidyl privileged structures have been widely used by many groups to discover biologically active molecules. In this context, privileged substructures are used as "hydrophobic anchors", to which peptide functionality is appended to gain specificity. Utilization of this concept has led to the discovery of many different active compounds at a wide range of biological receptors. A synthetic approach to these compounds has been developed on a "safety-catch" linker that allows rapid preparation of large libraries of these molecules. Importantly, amide bond formation/cleavage through treatment with amines is the final step; it is a linker strategy that allows significant diversification to be easily incorporated, and it only requires the inclusion of an amide bond. In addition, chemistry has been developed that permits the urea moiety to be inserted at the N-terminus of the peptide, allowing the same set of amines (either privileged substructures or amino acid analogues) to be used at both the N- and C-termini of the molecule. To show the robustness of this approach, a small library of peptidyl privileged structures were synthesized, illustrating that large combinatorial libraries can be synthesized using these technologies.     

The use of long-chain alkylamines for preconcentration of traces of molybdenum, tungsten and rhenium in their determination by atomic-absorption spectroscopy-I General studies

Long-chain alkylamines are used for the preconcentration of traces of molybdenum, tungsten and rhenium as thiocyanate complexes, in their determination by atomic-absorption spectroscopy. General studies of factors, influencing the extraction show that the thiocyanate complexes can be extracted into chloroform containing a low concentration of Amberlite LA1. Detection limits are 0.02 ppm Mo, 0.75 ppm W and 0.34 ppm Re in the final MIBK solution and are improved by a factor of 5-10 over those obtained by using current extraction methods. Serious interelement effects are eliminated and a range of other cations and anions are shown to have little effect on the absorption.     

Development and influence of autoanalysers and data processing in analytical chemistry

The present and future developments and influences of autoanalysers and data processors in analytical chemistry are critically evaluated. Rapid developments can be expected in the processing of routine chemical analyses and in the evaluation of data from physicochemical instrumentation.