Automatization of the Merrifield Peptide Synthesis

Already in the incipience period of Merrifield s method it was demonstrated that the new idea included the possibility for automatization of most of the chemical operations necessary for peptide synthesis [39]. On this aspect was based a great part of the enthusiasm which still accompanies the development of the methodology to date Like a fata morgana all routine work in conventional peptide synthesis seemed to be transferable to a more or less automatically operating machine. The only remaining labor was to refill reagents and solvents, to maintain the instrument, and to reap the end product. 

as described in the preceding chapters, the inherent categorical imperative of the method demanding completion and control of all chemical transformations on cross-linked polymer supports did not allow a direct breakthrough to automatic synthesis of real proteins. Though from the point of view of chemical problems there are still shortcomings in this respect, today several mechanical instruments are available on the market to perform manually or program-controlled gel-phase syntheses. 

In the following sections it is not so much the author s intention to balance different scientific tools against each other, but rather to propose some criteria for the judgement of a reliable peptide synthesizer. 

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Birr, C. (1978) Automatization of the Merrifield peptide synthesis. n Aspects of the Merrifield Peptide Synthesis (Birr, C., ed.). Springer-Verlag, Berlin New York, pp. 72-80. 

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