Development of a method for environmentally friendly chemical peptide synthesis in water using water-dispersible amino acid nanoparticles

Abstract

Due to the vast importance of peptides in biological processes, there is an escalating need for synthetic peptides to be used in a wide variety of applications. However, the consumption of organic solvent is extremely large in chemical peptide syntheses because of the multiple condensation steps in organic solvents. That is, the current synthesis method is not environmentally friendly. From the viewpoint of green sustainable chemistry, we focused on developing an organic solvent-free synthetic method using water, an environmentally friendly solvent. Here we described in-water synthesis technology using water-dispersible protected amino acids.

One-step green synthesis and characterization of leaf extract-mediated biocompatible silver and gold nanoparticles from Memecylon umbellatum

“…3 Triangular-shaped and spherical-shaped gold nanoparticles have been used for detection of DNA and as an immunoassay system for antibodies. 4 The use of nanoparticles as potential drug carriers in the treatment of cancer has also been reported. Nanoparticles can be prepared using a variety of chemicals and physical methods, including chemical reduction, [5][6][7] photochemical reduction, [8][9][10][11] electrochemical reduction, 12,13 and heat vaporization.…”

Aqueous microwave-assisted solid-phase peptide synthesis using Fmoc strategy. III: Racemization studies and water-based synthesis of histidine-containing peptides

“…The development of synthesis methods that do not use organic solvents would be desirable (Anastas and Warner 1998;Winterton 2001;Sheldon 2007). In recent years, we have been driven to focus on the development of a method for peptide synthesis in water which is an environmentally friendly solvent (Hojo et al 2001(Hojo et al , 2004a(Hojo et al , b, 2007(Hojo et al , 2008(Hojo et al , 2011(Hojo et al , 2012(Hojo et al , 2013. Solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) is commonly performed via a base-labile 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc) strategy.…”

Greener solvents for solid-phase organic synthesis

“…It must also be mentioned that Hojo and co-workers demonstrated that the dispersed nanoparticles can be easily removed from the aqueous waste stream, through filtration or ultracentrifugation. Subsequent publications by Hojo and co-workers have also gone on to demonstrate the application of similar water-dispersible Boc-nanoparticles, as well as the use of efficient microwave heating to reduce coupling times from 1 h to 3 min [22,23].…”