Papain-catalyzed polymerization of amino acids in low water organic solvents

Papain-catalyzed hydrolysis of and amino acid incorporation into BSA and zein substrates in low water organic media

“…PEG-trypsin was active , but the amino acid derivative (Phe-NH2) was found to be essential for catalysis. Our results demonstrate that in the case of papain only the concentration of water in the reaction mixture is critical for the proteolysis and polymerization of hydrophobic, or basic (Ferjancic et al, 1991), as well as acidic (Uemura et al, 1990) amino acid derivatives. Moreover, papain seems to be a useful and efficient tool for incorporating amino acids into proteins suspended in organic media and thus opens a new pathway as a means of modifying food proteins for nutritional or functional purposes.…”

“…Moreover, papain seems to be a useful and efficient tool for incorporating amino acids into proteins suspended in organic media and thus opens a new pathway as a means of modifying food proteins for nutritional or functional purposes. In addition to the presence of water, which in organic media affects the ability of the enzyme to accommodate these substrates for hydrolysis or peptide bond formation, the presence of an extended active site in the biocatalyst is also an important parameter promoting the polymerization reaction (Ferjancic et al, 1991). The latter feature is now under investigation with a view to obtaining further information about the enhancement of the papain catalytic properties in organic solvents.…”

In vitro enzymic synthesis of polymers containing saccharides, lignins, proteins or related compounds: a review

“…Proteolytic enzymes can be highly stable in polar organic solvents,141 non-protein amino acids can be incorporated into peptides,142 the use of solvent can be dispensed with by use of eutectics formed from the peptide precursors,143 and the type of L-a-amino acid methyl ester used deÐnes the chain length of the peptide formed in a one-pot reaction catalysed by papain.144 A promising example is the use of polyethylene glycol modiÐed papain catalysis in toluene, in which the water level is critical in deÐning the extent of polymerization ; products containing up to ten residues can be formed. 145 As a potential contribution to the synthesis of glycoproteins with possible medical applications, the enzymic synthesis of saccharideÈamino acid conjugates has been achieved. 146,147 Immobilization of enzymes onto "carrierÏ polymers is well known, but attachment of enzymes to polymers for another role warrants mention.…”

Papain Catalyzed Oligomerization in Monophasic Aqueous Organic Media - Synthesis and Characterization of Neutral and Polar Amino Acid Oligomers

“…Synthesis of polar amino acid homo-oligomers has been carried out more efficiently in low water bi-phasic systems, triphasic, or in nearly anhydrous systems [5]. Efficient synthesis of di through penta peptides has been reported with modified, immobilized or free protease catalyzed reactions in biphasic systems consisting of water and water immiscible organic solvents such as toluene, trichloroethylene, cyclohexane and ethyl acetate have been reported [7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”