Amino acids laboratory synthesis

An important laboratory use involves the Gabriel synthesis of a-amino-acids. 

The most widely used method for the laboratory synthesis of a-amino acids is a modification of the malonic ester synthesis (Section 21.7). The key reagent is diethyl acetamidomalonate, a derivative of malonic ester that aheady has the critical nitrogen substituent in place at the a-caibon atom. The side chain is introduced by alkylating diethyl acetamidomalonate in the same way as diethyl malonate itself is alkylated. 

The importance of chemical syntheses of a-amino acids on industrial scale is limited by the fact that the standard procedure always yields the racemic mixture (except for the achiral glycine H2N-CH2-COOH and the corresponding amino acid from symmetrical ketones R-CO-R). A subsequent separation of the enantiomers then is a major cost factor. Various methods for the asymmetric synthesis of a-amino acids on laboratory scale have been developed, and among these are asymmetric Strecker syntheses as well. ... 

We ll see in Section 26.7 that this DCC-induced method of amide formation is the key step in the laboratory synthesis of small proteins, or peptides. For instance, when one amino acid with its NH2 rendered unreactive and a second... 

The synthesis of an a-amino acid from an achiral precursor by any of the methods described in the previous section yields a racemic mixture, with equal amounts of S and R enantiomers. To use an amino acid in the laboratory synthesis of a naturally occurring protein, however, the pure S enantiomer must be obtained. 

In common with all the higher AB polyamides, PA-12 can be made from either die amino acid or the lactam.12 In practice, PA-12 is made from the cheaper 12-laurolactam (12-dodecane lactam or laboratory-scale synthesis it is advisable to start with the amino acid or a combination of amino acid and lactam. 

The scientific world was amazed to hear that David Lee, from the laboratory of Reza Ghadiri (Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California), had found a self-replicating peptide (Lee et al., 1996) there are analogies to the experiments with oligonucleotides (see Sect. 6.4). Lee was able to show that a certain peptide, containing 32 amino acids, can both function as a matrix and also support its own synthesis autocatalytically. The information transfer is clearly more complex than that involved in nucleic acid replication. In the case of this particular peptide, both the... 

A Rh-dipamp complex was later applied by NSC Technologies for the manufacture of several unnatural amino acids with good catalyst performances (ee 95-98%, TON 5000-20000) [30] and was also very selective but with low activity (ee 98%, TON 20) in a feasibility study for a synthesis of acromelobic acid by Abbott Laboratories [31]. 

This report presents various methods developed primarily at our laboratory for chromatographic resolution of racemates of several pharmaceuticals (e.g., -blockers, NSAIDS, anta-acids, DL-amino acids, Bupropion, Baclofen, Etodolac, Carnitine, Mexiletine). Recently, we developed methods for establishing molecular dissymmetry and determining absolute configuration of diastereomers (and thus the enantiomers) of (/< .S )-Baclofcn, (/d.SJ-Bctaxolol with complimentary application of TLC, HPLC, H NMR, LCMS this ensured the success of diastereomeric synthesis and the reliability of enantioseparation. 

Work in the Imperiali laboratory has also focused on exploring the ability of minimal peptide scaffolds to augment the rate of coenzyme-mediated transaminations [22-25]. To accomplish this, a strategy has been developed in which the core functionality of the coenzyme is incorporated as an integral constituent of an unnatural coenzyme amino acid chimera construct. Thus, non-cova-lent binding of the coenzyme to the peptide or protein scaffold is unnecessary. Both the pyridoxal and pyridoxamine analogs have been synthesized in a form competent for Fmoc-based solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) (Fig. 7) [23,24]. 

More recently, the Pam amino acid chimera has also been incorporated into a small j0j0a-motif peptide scaffold [28]. The family of BBA peptides was developed in our laboratory as structured platforms for the design of functional motifs. These motifs are attractive because they are small enough (23 residues) to be easily synthesized by standard solid phase synthesis methods. Additionally, the motifs appear to possess sufficient structural complexity to influence coenzyme properties while still being amenable to structural characterization by standard spectroscopic techniques [3, 29, 30]. The BBA peptides include a -hairpin domain with a type IT turn connected by a loop region to an a-heli-cal domain (Fig. 10). Packing of the sheet and helix against one another is accomplished by hydrophobic contacts created by a hydrophobic core of residues. 

The utilization of a-amino acids and their derived 6-araino alcohols in asymmetric synthesis has been extensive. A number of procedures have been reported for the reduction of a variety of amino acid derivatives however, the direct reduction of a-am1no acids with borane has proven to be exceptionally convenient for laboratory-scale reactions. These reductions characteristically proceed in high yield with no perceptible racemization. The resulting p-amino alcohols can, in turn, be transformed into oxazolidinones, which have proven to be versatile chiral auxiliaries. Besides the highly diastereoselective aldol addition reactions, enolates of N-acyl oxazolidinones have been used in conjunction with asymmetric alkylations, halogenations, hydroxylations, acylations, and azide transfer processes, all of which proceed with excellent levels of stereoselectivity. 

The purpose for the 1998 study was to assess the ability of and determine the means whereby member facilities identify and solve problems in peptide synthesis 10 The potential for oxidation of amino acids such as methionine is always a concern for peptide chemists and biomedical researchers. A peptide mixture containing 70% correct peptide and 30% oxidized peptide was prepared and sent to member facilities to determine if the oxidized methionine would be detected (see Table 1). In addition to the oxidized peptide, a reverse synthesized peptide was sent to the participants. In previous studies, peptides had been submitted which had been synthesized in the reverse order and if only HPLC and mass spectrometric analyses was performed, the reverse synthesis would not be identified. Therefore, two peptides were designed with the second in the reverse order with two substitutions to equal the mass of the first peptide. These two peptides were readily separated by HPLC. The second peptide was sent to the laboratories, but the laboratories were given the first sequence and asked if the correct peptide had been made. Out of 20 participating laboratories ... 

It is of course surprising that amino acids can be obtained via the Strecker synthesis, purines from the condensation of HCN, pyrimidines from the reaction of cyanoacetilene with urea, and sugars from the autocatalytic condensation of formaldehyde. The synthesis of chemical constiments of contemporary organisms by non-enzymatic processes under laboratory conditions does not necessarily imply that they were either essential for the origin of life or available in the primitive environment. However, the significance of prebiotic simulation experiments is... 

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