MINIMAL ISOLATION PEPTIDE SYNTHESIS PROCESS USING ION-EXCHANGE RESINS AS SCAVENGING AGENTS

摘要

A process for the production of a polypeptide having a pre-determined number and sequence of amino acid residues, comprising the steps of first exposing a first substrate amino acid or peptide fragment to a stoichiometric excess of a second reactant amino acid or peptide fragment to form a condensation product; second, contacting the reaction solution from the first step with an insoluble scavenger to sequester the excess of the second reactant amino acid or peptide fragment; third, removing from the solution the sequestered excess second reactant amino acid or peptide fragment; fourth, subjecting the reaction solution to a reaction which removes the protecting group from either the N- or C-terminus of the condensation product of the first step; and fifth, if necessary, repeating the first through fourth steps. The method is capable of large-scale production of peptides in solution, is not subject to the one-terminus-only limitation of the solid-phase method, possesses the "cleanliness" of the solid-phase method and, like the solid-phase method, is capable of automation. Most importantly, however, the method of the present invention does not require the frequent isolation of intermediates in a lengthy synthetic sequence nor, necessarily, the removal of all contaminating by-products from the reaction mixture prior to subsequent processing steps.