Contemporary chemical protein synthesis has been dramatically advanced over the past few decades, which has enabled chemists to reach the landscape of synthetic biomacromolecules. Chemical synthesis can produce synthetic proteins with precisely controlled structures which are difficult or impossible to obtain via gene expression systems. Herein, we summarize the key enabling ligation technologies, major strategic developments, and some selected representative applications of synthetic proteins and provide an outlook for future development.

Cysteine-based native chemical ligation (NCL) has been a very powerful approach for convergent synthesis of peptides and proteins. However, owing to the low abundance of cysteine (Cys) in proteins, applications of NCL in protein chemical synthesis are limited. To expand the peptide ligation toolbox, NCL followed by desulfurization has been developed to enable peptide ligation at Xaa-Ala conjunctions, that is, formal "alanine ligation". In this regard, effective peptide desulfurization methods are critical. This Concept article summarizes the development of different desulfurization strategies for peptide and protein chemical synthesis.

A novel approach for the synthesis of indolizines from 2-(pyridin-2-yl)acetates, ynals, and alcohols or thiols has been developed. This MCR (multicomponent reaction) that proceeds under the solvent- and metal-free conditions has provided a straightforward path to construct indolizines. Furthermore, this reaction demonstrates other attractive features such as widely available starting materials, mild conditions, good functional group tolerance, and high efficiency.