Peptides disadvantages

The N-to-C assembly of the peptide chain is unfavorable for the chemical synthesis of peptides on solid supports. This strategy can be dismissed already for the single reason that repeated activation of the carboxyl ends on the growing peptide chain would lead to a much higher percentage of racemization. Several other more practical disadvantages also tend to disfavor this approach, and acid activation on the polymer support is usually only used in one-step fragment condensations (p. 241). 

The major disadvantage of solid-phase peptide synthesis is the fact that ail the by-products attached to the resin can only be removed at the final stages of synthesis. Another problem is the relatively low local concentration of peptide which can be obtained on the polymer, and this limits the turnover of all other educts. Preparation of large quantities (> 1 g) is therefore difficult. Thirdly, the racemization-safe methods for acid activation, e.g. with azides, are too mild (= slow) for solid-phase synthesis. For these reasons the convenient Menifield procedures are quite generally used for syntheses of small peptides, whereas for larger polypeptides many research groups adhere to classic solution methods and purification after each condensation step (F.M. Finn, 1976). 

Two disadvantages are associated with the use of S-acetyl or 5-benzoyl derivatives in peptide syntheses (a) base-catalyzed hydrolysis of 5-acetyl- and 5-benzoylcys-teine occurs with /S-elimination to give olefinic side products, CH2=C-(NHPG)CO—(b) the yields of peptides formed by coupling an unprotected amino group in an 5-acylcysteine are low because of prior S-N acyl migration. ... 

The original procedure for the trifluoroacetylation of amino acids used trifluoroacetic anhydride [Acetic acid, trifluoro-, anhydride].4 This reagent, although inexpensive and readily available, has certain disadvantages it is a highly reactive compound and thus has caused undesired reactions such as the cleavage of amide or peptide bonds,5 unsymmetrical anhydrides are formed between the newly formed A-trifluoroacetylamino acids and the by-product trifluoroacetic acid, and excess trifluoroacetic anhydride has caused racemization of asymmetric centers. 

Dipeptides and longer peptides are typically synthesized by solid-phase chemistry at polymer beads, a route discovered by and named after Merrifield [5, 88]. Disadvantages of this approach are that the polymer support is expensive and additional steps for linkage to and cleavage from the polymer are required. Hence solution chemistries are an alternative to the Merrifield approach. 

One attempt to overcome these disadvantages has been to use multidimensional liquid chromatography (LC) followed directly by tandem mass spectrometry to separate, fragment and identify proteins (Link et al., 1999). In this process, a denatured and reduced protein mixture is digested with a protease to create a collection of peptides (Fig. 2.6). The peptide mixture is applied to a cation exchange column and a fraction of these peptides are eluted based on charge onto a reverse-phase column. The... 

Selective cleavage of peptides and proteins is an important procedure in biochemistry and molecular biology. The half-life for the uncatalyzed hydrolysis of amide bonds is 350 500 years at room temperature and pH 4 8. Clearly, efficient methods of cleavage are needed. Despite their great catalytic power and selectivity to sequence, proteinases have some disadvantages. Peptides 420,423,424,426 an(j proteins428 429 can be hydrolytically cleaved near histidine and methionine residues with several palladium(II) aqua complexes, often with catalytic turnover. 

Table 1 Advantages and disadvantages of hydrogels as tissue engineering matrices Advantages Aqueous environment can protect cells and fragile drugs (peptides,...

In even more disadvantageous circumstances, the thermal decomposition does not yield a single defined product, but a complex mixture that results in almost useless spectra, e.g., in case of highly polar natural products such as saccharides, nucleotides, and peptides or in case of ionic compounds such as organic salts or metal complexes. 

These are an example of a nonviral vector that can accept large DNA inserts. Because the liposome lacks peptides, it does not provoke an immune response. The primary disadvantage is that, unlike viruses, the integration rate of liposome-contained DNA is very low. 

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