The Idea of Solid-Phase Synthesis

FIGURE 5.1 The idea of solid-phase synthesis as conceived by Merrifield in 1959. Protecting group Pg1 is selectively removed after the addition of each residue. 

RB Merrifield. Solid phase synthesis. I. The synthesis of a tetrapeptide. J Am Chem Soc 85, 2149, 1963. 

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I worked witJi him for several years on his projects until I got the idea of solid phase synthesis. I told him the idea. It was kind of funny we were riding up the elevator and he got off without a word. Next day he came in to see me and said, that may be a good idea, why don t you work on it That made all the difference. He could have said, no, that s not what I want to do, I don t want you to work on it. The Rockefeller Institute, later Rockefeller University, was set up more like the European system. You had a lab head, and people worked under him. So when I was in his lab, I worked on what he was doing. He directed it aU. Then, after a while, he d let you do a litde bit on your own. That was standard, there wasn t anything unusual about it. It s changing a lot now. Young people who come in now are appointed as Assistant Professor and independent Head of Laboratory. 

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