Broadening of the substrate tolerance of α-chymotrypsin by using the carbamoylmethyl ester as an acyl donor in kinetically controlled peptide synthesis

Abstract

In the kinetically controlled approach of peptide synthesis mediated by α-chymotrypsin, the broadening of the protease’s substrate tolerance is achieved by switching the acyl donor from the conventional methyl ester to the carbamoylmethyl ester. Thus, as a typical example, the extremely low coupling efficiency obtained by employing the methyl ester of an inherently poor amino acid substrate, Ala, is significantly improved by the use of this particular ester. Its ameliorating effect is observed also in the couplings of other amino acid residues such as Gly and Ser as carboxy components.