Protease catalysis mediated by a substrate mimetic: a novel enzymatic approach to the synthesis of carboxylic acid amides

We present a protease-based method for the coupling of non-coded and non-amino-acid-derived amines with carboxy components. The key feature of this approach is the combination of the substrate-mimetic strategy with the ability of the cysteine protease clostripain to accept a wide spectrum of amines. Firstly, we tested the use of the 4-guanidinophenyl ester leaving group to mediate acceptance of non-coded and non-amino-acid-derived acyl residues. This employed beta-amino acid and simple carboxylic acid moieties as acyl donors, and several amino acid and peptide units as acyl acceptors. The study was completed by the use of non-amino-acid-derived acyl acceptors comprising simple amines, amino alcohols, and diamines. The results indicate that the approach presented is a useful strategy for the synthesis of peptide isosteres, peptide analogues, and organic amides. These last open a new range of synthetic applications of proteases completely beyond peptide synthesis, achieving efficient and selective acylations of non-amino-acid-derived amines under extraordinarily mild reaction conditions.