Small-molecule compounds solid-phase organic synthesis

A key element in the original Merriheld procedure of solid-phase synthesis is the solid support system. That system consists of two parts a resin head and a. linker, an organic compound used to join the hrst amino acid to the resin head. The resin beads used by Merriheld are small spherical objects made of cross-linked polystyrene. This material consists primarily of the polymer polystyrene whose linear molecules are linked to each other at various positions by the addition of divinylhenzene (CH2 = CHCgH jCH =CH2). The hnal cross-linked material is relatively rigid, with enough hexihility to permit... 

Conventional liquid phase synthesis suffers from the limitation that each product or intermediate has to be separated from the other components of the reaction mixture. An elegant answer to this problem is to use a solid phase synthesis (SPS) approach. In such an approach the compounds are synthesized on a solid support and simple washing steps replace the laborious work up and isolation procedures. At the end of the synthesis the product is released from the solid support. The SPS of oligomers of amino acids or nucleotides is well estabilished and task chemists are facing now is the development of SPS routes for small organic molecules. 

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