Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.140, No.29, 9020-9024, 2018
Native Chemical Ligation-Photodesulfurization in Flow
Native chemical ligation (NCL) combined with desulfurization chemistry has revolutionized the way in which large polypeptides and proteins are accessed by chemical synthesis. Herein, we outline the use of flow chemistry for the ligation-based assembly of polypeptides. We also describe the development of a novel photo-desulfurization transformation that, when coupled with flow NCL, enables efficient access to native polypeptides on time scales up to 2 orders of magnitude faster than current batch NCL desulfurization methods. The power of the new ligation-photodesulfurization flow platform is showcased through the rapid synthesis of the 36 residue clinically approved HIV entry inhibitor enfuvirtide and the peptide diagnostic agent somatorelin.