Chimeric peptides containing short sequences derived from bovine Lactoferricin (LfcinB) and Buforin II (BFII) were synthetized using solid‐phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and characterized via reversed‐phase liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. The chimeras were obtained with high purity, demonstrating their synthetic viability. The chimeras’ antibacterial activity against Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative strains was evaluated. Our results showed that all the chimeras exhibited greater antibacterial activity against the evaluated strains than the individual sequences, suggesting that chemical binding of short sequences derived from AMPs significantly increased the antibacterial activity. For each strain, the chimera with the best antibacterial activity exerted a bacteriostatic and/or bactericidal effect, which was dependent on the concentration. It was found that: (i) the antibacterial activity of a chimera is mainly influenced by the linked sequences, the palindromic motif RLLRRLLR being the most relevant one; (ii) the inclusion of a spacer between the short sequences did not significantly affect the chimera's synthesis process; however, it enhanced its antibacterial activity against Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive strains; on the other hand, (iii) the replacement of Arg with Lys in the LfcinB or BFII sequences improved the chimeras’ synthesis process without significantly affecting their antibacterial activity. These results illustrate the great importance of the synthesis of chimeric peptides for the generation of promising antibacterial peptides.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites that are known to be toxic to humans and animals. On the other hand, some mycotoxins and their analogues possess antioxidant as well as antitumor properties,...

Using the van Deemter model, the efficiency of three stationary phase systems in the analysis of a mixture of synthetic peptides was evaluated: (i) monolithic, (ii) packed, and (iii) core−shell columns, and it was shown that the efficiency of the monolithic column is superior to the others, specifically using it, the lowest values of H min (0.03 and 0.1 mm) were obtained, and additionally its efficiency was not significantly affected by increasing the flow. Using the concept of the gradient retention factor (k*), a method for chromatographic separation of a peptide complex mixture was designed, implemented, and optimized and then transferred from a packed column to a monolithic one. The results showed that it was possible to separate all components of the mixture using both evaluated columns; moreover, the analysis time was reduced from 70 to 10 min, conserving the critical pair resolution (1.4), by the transfer method using the k* concept. The method developed was tested against a mixture of doping peptides, showing that this method is efficient for separating peptides of various natures. This investigation is very useful for the development of methods for the analysis of complex peptide mixtures since it provides a systematic approach that can be extrapolated to different types of columns and instrumentation.