UK chemists have cracked a long-standing problem in peptide synthesis that has prevented amino acid chains being grown from both ends. The insight could open up efficient ways to make peptide-based drugs.
Lawrence Harwood and colleagues at the University of Reading say they have discovered a way to extend peptides from the carboxylic acid end without scrambling the stereochemistry - solving a problem that has stumped chemists for decades. The Reading team has now won a £63,000 grant for commercialisation of the technique, to license to companies working in the rapidly growing market of peptide-based drugs.
All peptides have a carbon terminus at one end, and a nitrogen terminus at the other. But because of issues with stereochemistry, chemists are currently limited to extending peptides from the nitrogen end.
"This is such a profound problem that the impossibility of synthesising peptides from the acid terminus has become dogma in the field"
- Lawrence Harwood......
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