Peptides as Catalysts

Chemists in Japan have studied an asymmetric cyanohydrin synthesis addition of hydrogen cyanide to benzaldehyde using synthetic peptides as catalysts 75). 

J. Skidmore, and J. A. Smith, beta-Peptides as catalysts poly-beta-leudne as a catalyst for the Julia-Colonna asymmetric epoxidation of enones, Chem. Commun. 2001, (22), 2330-2331. 

In conclusion, the aldol reaction with L-proline as an enzyme mimic is a successful example for the concept of using simple organic molecules as chiral catalysts. However, this concept is not limited to selected enzymatic reactions, but opens up a general perspective for the asymmetric design of a multitude of catalytic reactions in the presence of organocatalysts [1, 3]. This has been also demonstrated by very recent publications in the field of asymmetric syntheses with amino acids and peptides as catalysts. In the following paragraphs this will be exemplified by selected excellent contributions. 

An asymmetric version of a Michael addition with nitrogen nucleophiles can be also realized with simple short-chain peptides as catalysts. This has been demonstrated by Miller et al. for the addition of an azide to a,/(-unsaturated carbonyl compounds [16]. In the presence of the tripeptide 9 as a catalyst (2.5 mol-%) the products 10 have been formed in excellent yields and with up to 85% ee (Scheme 7). In addition, this reaction represents an attractive access to /(-amino acids. 

Formagio F, Boncio M, Ciisma M, Peggion C, Mezzato S, Polese A, Barazza A, Antonello S, Maran F, Broxt man QB, Kaptein B, Kamphuis J, Vitale RM, Saviano M, Benedetti E, Toniolo C (2002) Nitroxyl peptides as catalysts of enantioselective oxidations. Chem Eur J 8 84-93... 

A different approach was followed by Miller in 1999. Based on the work of Rao, Uimethylsilyl azide together with acetic acid was employed as a mild and efficient method for the conjugate addition of hydrazoic acid mediated by an organic catalyst. In 2000, Miller reported an asymmetric variation of this method using histidine derived small peptides as catalysts (Equation 4.2). A salient feature of the method is the use of trimethylsilyl azide which is easier to handle than hydrazoic acid. 

Synthetic organic polymers, which are used as polymeric supports for chromatography, as catalysts, as solid-phase supports for peptide and oligonucleotide synthesis, and for diagnosis, are based mainly on polystyrene, polystyrene-divinylbenzene, polyacrylamide, polymethacrylates, and polyvinyl alcohols. A conventional suspension of polymerization is usually used to produce these organic polymeric supports, especially in large-scale industrial production. 

A very considerable body of work has been published on the use of 3-hydrox-ytriazolopyridine (HOAt) 280 and its derivatives as peptide coupling catalysts,... 

Murakami, Y. Functionaiited Cyclophanes as Catalysts and Enzyme Models. 115, 103-151 (1983). Mutter, M., and Pillai, V. N. R. New Perspectives in Polymer-Supported Peptide Synthesis. 106, 119-175 (1982). 

Flynn, G.C., Chappell, T.G., Rothman, J.E. (1989). Peptide binding and release by proteins implicated as catalysts of protein assembly. Science 245, 385-390. 

Although, as stated above, we wiU mostly focus on hydrolytic systems it is worth discussing oxidation catalysts briefly [8]. Probably the best known of these systems is exemphfied by the antitumor antibiotics belonging to the family of bleomycins (Fig. 6.1) [9]. These molecules may be included in the hst of peptide-based catalysts because of the presence of a small peptide which is involved both in the coordination to the metal ion (essential co-factor for the catalyst) and as a tether for a bisthiazole moiety that ensures interaction with DNA. It has recently been reported that bleomycins will also cleave RNA [10]. With these antibiotics DNA cleavage is known to be selective, preferentially occurring at 5 -GpC-3 and 5 -GpT-3 sequences, and results from metal-dependent oxidation [11]. Thus it is not a cleavage that occurs at the level of a P-O bond as expected for a non-hydrolytic mechanism. 

Kostic et al. recently reported the use of various palladium(II) aqua complexes as catalysts for the hydration of nitriles.456 crossrefil. 34 Reactivity of coordination These complexes, some of which are shown in Figure 36, also catalyze hydrolytic cleavage of peptides, decomposition of urea to carbon dioxide and ammonia, and alcoholysis of urea to ammonia and various carbamate esters.420-424, 427,429,456,457 Qggj-jy palladium(II) aqua complexes are versatile catalysts for hydrolytic reactions. Their catalytic properties arise from the presence of labile water or other solvent ligands which can be displaced by a substrate. In many cases the coordinated substrate becomes activated toward nucleophilic additions of water/hydroxide or alcohols. New palladium(II) complexes cis-[Pd(dtod)Cl2] and c - Pd(dtod)(sol)2]2+ contain the bidentate ligand 3,6-dithiaoctane-l,8-diol (dtod) and unidentate ligands, chloride anions, or the solvent (sol) molecules. The latter complex is an efficient catalyst for the hydration and methanolysis of nitriles, reactions shown in Equation (3) 435... 

There are certain catalyst systems which appear to be more amenable to combinatorial studies than others. For example, libraries of small peptides as ligands are particularly easy to prepare (e.g., on solid supports), and due to their modular nature high diversity is possible. High diversity is also readily achieved when using mixtures of two or more chiral monodentate ligands.122 This novel approach offers many perspectives. 

Hoveyda and co-workers presented the asymmetric addition of alkylzincs to small-, medium-, and large-ring nitroolefins with chiral peptide-based phosphines 57 as catalyst.87 The enantioselectivities were typically >90%. Ligand 57 also worked well in the asymmetric addition of dialkylzinc to acyclic disubstituted nitroalkenes (up to 95% ee Scheme 26).88... 

We now turn briefly to the problem of peptide stability in the solid state [8] [88], First, we note that most - if not all - reactions discussed in the previous and subsequent sections can also occur in the solid state, although the kinetics and mechanisms of the reactions can be quite different from those observed in solution. Moisture content, the presence of excipients that act as catalysts, and surface phenomena are all factors whose roles are all-but-im-possible to predict. As a result, each formulation poses a new challenge to pharmaceutical scientists. As a rule, solution data cannot be used to predict the shelf-life of solid formulations, and extrapolating from one solid formulation to another can be misleading. 

As discussed above, proteases are peptide bond hydrolases and act as catalysts in this reaction. Consequently, as catalysts they also have the potential to catalyze the reverse reaction, the formation of a peptide bond. Peptide synthesis with proteases can occur via one of two routes either in an equilibrium controlled or a kinetically controlled manner 60). In the kinetically controlled process, the enzyme acts as a transferase. The protease catalyzes the transfer of an acyl group to a nucleophile. This requires an activated substrate preferably in the form of an ester and a protected P carboxyl group. This process occurs through an acyl covalent intermediate. Hence, for kineticmly controlled reactions the eii me must go through an acyl intermediate in its mechanism and thus only serine and cysteine proteases are of use. In equilibrium controlled synthesis, the enzyme serves omy to expedite the rate at which the equilibrium is reached, however, the position of the equilibrium is unaffected by the protease. 

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