Native chemical ligation is the process where a free N-terminal cysteine of a polypeptide reacts with a C-terminal thioester of a subsequent polypeptide to form native amide bonds to elongate polypeptide sequence. Used in tandem with desulfurization, a synthetic tool where a cysteine moiety at the newly formed native ligation bond can be converted to an alanine, allows for an increase in chemical disconnections when building polypeptide sequences. Our chemistry utilizes decreased equivalences of phosphine and light to initiate desulfurization, which reduces the overall chemical waste. This method can be used in aqueous solvent and unprotected water-soluble peptides. In our research, we are synthesizing peptides containing cysteine in a variety of environments to show a wide range of robustness of chemical reproducibility.

Light activated desulfurization: Greener approach to peptide synthesis

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.