The purpose of this project was to develop a new peptide synthesis lab that would be feasible to complete in either organic or biochemistry labs. Three separate experiments were completed to decide which approach is appropriate for an undergraduate lab setting. Two approaches involved solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and the other involved solution phase peptide synthesis.<br/><br/>Solid phase synthesis (SPS) is primarily used in modern industrial and academic synthesis of drugs because these kinds of methods allow rapid synthesis of low molecular weight drugs. The purpose of the first SPPS based experiment was to synthesize a peptide with various N- terminal labeling groups. A biologically active peptide was created using the Fmoc strategy and a marker was attached in the last step in place of the amino acid. The markers are designed to target bioconjugates. The samples were analyzed by a mass spectrometer. The experiment was completed using a manual method, which was inexpensive, did not require complicated instruments, and were easy to perform. This process can be changed by adding more, using other amino acids, or using other markers. The second SPPS focused on the same method but used unnatural amino acids to determine robustness in the solid phase synthesis approach.<br/><br/>In addition to these solid phase peptide synthesis protocols, a set of procedures from the literature were adopted to attempt a solution-phase dipeptide synthesis. The procedures were chosen for their apparent reproducibility with the intention to expand the approach to longer polypeptide sequences. All three of these approaches continue to be evaluated to determine the best synthethic route for an undergraduate lab in either organic or biochemistry.

Development of an undergraduate peptide synthesis lab for organic and biochemistry courses

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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