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Synthesis of a new group of hybrid phosphonodehydropeptides composed of glycyl-(Z)-dehydrophenylalanine and structurally variable aminophosphonates alongside with investigations of their activity towards cathepsin C are presented. Obtained results suggest that the introduction of (Z)- dehydrophenylalanine residue into the short phosphonopeptide chain does induce the ordered conformation. Investigated peptides appeared to act as weak or moderate inhibitors of cathepsin C.

Phosphinate pseudopeptide are analogs of peptides containing phosphinate moiety in a place of the amide bond. Due to this, the organophosphorus fragment resembles the tetrahedral transition state of the amide bond hydrolysis. Additionally, it is also capable of coordinating metal ions, for example, zinc or magnesium ions. These two properties of phosphinate pseudopeptides make them an ideal candidate for metal-related protease inhibitors. This research investigates the influence of additional residue in the P2 position on the inhibitory properties of phosphinopeptides. The synthetic strategy is proposed, based on retrosynthetic analysis. The N-C-P bond formation in the desired compounds is conveniently available from the three-component condensation of appropriate amino components, aldehydes, and hypophosphorous acid. One of the crucial synthetic steps is the careful selection of the protecting groups for all the functionals. Determination of the inhibitor activity of the obtained compounds has been done using UV-Vis spectroscopy and standard substrate L-Leu-p-nitroanilide toward the enzymes isolated from the porcine kidney (SsLAP, Sus scrofa Leucine aminopeptidase) and barley seeds (HvLAP, Hordeum vulgare Leucine aminopeptidase). An efficient procedure for the preparation of phosphinotripeptides has been performed. Activity test shown that introduction of additional residue into P2 position obtains the micromolar range inhibitors of SsLAP and HvLAP. Moreover, careful selection of the residue in the P2 position should improve its selectivity toward mammalian and plant leucyl aminopeptidases. This research was funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (PMSHE) for the Faculty of Chemistry of Wrocław University of Science and Technology and by Wroclaw Research Center EIT+ under the project “Biotechnologies and advanced medical technologies—BioMed”, grant number POIG 01.01.02-02-003/08-00, 00 financed from the European Regional Development Fund (Operational Programme Innovative Economy, 1.1.2. B. O. is recipient of a Ph.D. fellowship from a project funded by the European Social Found. Financial support by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCIU), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (RTI2018-101818-B-I00, UE), and Gobierno Vasco (GV), (IT 992-16) is gratefully acknowledged.

The selection of bioremediation techniques is important for purification of contaminated soil for agricultural use. Studies on soil contaminated with petroleum substances have indicated that the applied method of remediation has a bigger impact on the development of oat seedlings than the level of contamination. A yeast inoculum appeared to be a technique which was the friendliest to vegetation of oat

The procedures for the synthesis of esters of dehydropeptides containing C-terminal (Z)-dehydrophenylalanine and dehydroalanine have been elaborated. These esters appeared to be moderate or weak inhibitors of cathepsin C, with some of them exhibiting slow-binding behavior. As shown by molecular modeling, they are rather bound at the surface of the enzyme and are not submersed in its binding cavities. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00044-015-1366-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cathepsins play an important role in several human disorders and therefore the design and synthesis of their inhibitors attracts considerable interest in current medicinal chemistry approaches. Due to the presence of a strong sulphydryl nucleophile in the active center of the cysteine type cathepsins, most strategies to date have yielded covalent inhibitors. Here we present a series of non-covalent β-amino-α-hydroxyalkanephosphonate dipeptidic inhibitors of cathepsin C, ranking amongst the best low-molecular weight inhibitors of this enzyme. Their binding modes determined by molecular modelling indicate that the hydroxymethyl fragment of the molecule, not the phosphonate moiety, acts as a transition state analogue of peptide bond hydrolysis. These dipeptide mimetics appear also to be potent inhibitors of other cysteine proteases such as papain, cathepsin B and cathepsin K, thus providing new leading structures for these medicinally important enzymes.

N-Protected α-aminoalkylphosphinic acids bearing a P–H function were found to be novel practical building blocks in three-component condensations with formaldehyde and secondary amines (amino acids). Such Mannich-type N -phosphonomethylation is a common approach for phosphorus acid derived substrates and leads to multifunctional (phosphonic/amino/carboxylic) compounds of diverse relevance. The utility of this reaction was examined for construction, in a single synthetic step, of advanced phosphinic pseudodipeptides designed to act as extended transition state analogue inhibitors of selected aminopeptidases. Phosphinomethylation of primary amino acids was less efficient and yielded mixtures of products which were separated into individual components, and their structures identified.

Synthesis, structural and biological studies of pentapeptides containing two Delta Phe residues (Z and E isomers) in position 2 and 4 in peptide chain were performed. All the investigated peptides adopted bent conformation and majority of them could exist as two different. conformers in solution. Only pentapeptides. containing free N-termini appeared to act as weak inhibitors of cathepsin C with the slow-binding, competitive mechanism of inhibition. free acids being bound slightly better than their methyl esters. Results of Molecular modeling suggested significant difference between peptides, depending of the type of amino acid residue in position 5 in peptide chain. Dehydropeptides containing GIN, residue in this position may act as competitive slow-reacting substrates and therefore exhibit inhibitory-like properties. Copyright (C) 2008 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Individual stereoisomers of the phosphinic pseudodipeptide hPheψ[P(O)(OH)CH2]Phe were obtained by stereoselective liquid chromatographic separation as N- and C-terminally protected derivative on quinidine carbamate modified silica stationary phase. The stereoisomeric purity, exceeding 95% for each fraction, was determined before and after deprotection using two independent methods. The absolute configuration was rationally assigned by application of enantiomerically pure phosphinic acid substrates in the synthetic procedure and correlation with biological activity of the products. Substantial differences in inhibition of leucine aminopeptidase by the individual isomers revealed novel insights into potency of the recently developed and remarkably effective compound. Graphical abstract First successful separation of all four stereoisomers of a phosphinic acid pseudodipeptide allowed to determine the inhibitory activity of the homophenylalanyl-phenylalanine analogue towards leucine aminopeptidase stereoselectively.

A novel, general, and versatile method of diversification of the P1′ position in phosphinic pseudodipeptides, presumable inhibitors of proteolytic enzymes, was elaborated. The procedure was based on parallel derivatization of the amino group in the suitably protected phosphinate building blocks with appropriate alkyl and aryl halides. This synthetic strategy represents an original approach to phosphinic dipeptide chemistry. Its usefulness was confirmed by obtaining a series of P1′ modified phosphinic dipeptides, inhibitors of cytosolic leucine aminopeptidase, through computer-aided design basing on the structure of homophenylalanyl-phenylalanine analogue (hPheP[CH 2 ]Phe) bound in the enzyme active site as a lead structure. In this approach novel interactions between inhibitor P1′ fragment and the S1′ region of the enzyme, particularly hydrogen bonding involving Asn330 and Asp332 enzyme residues, were predicted. The details of the design, synthesis, and activity evaluation toward cytosolic leucine aminopeptidase and aminopeptidase N are discussed. Although the potency of the lead compound has not been improved, marked selectivity of the synthesized inhibitors toward both studied enzymes was observed.

Tetrapeptide p-nitroanilides containing (E)-dehydrophenylalanine were synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors and substrates of cathepsin C. Peptides containing a free, unblocked amino group appeared to be quite good substrates of the enzyme, whereas fully protected peptides acted as very weak inhibitors. Structural studies by means of NMR and CD, alongside with molecular modelling, have proved that these peptides are hydrolysed in one step by direct removal of p-nitroaniline from the tetrapeptide.

The synthesis and biological activity studies of the series of structurally different α-aminoalkylphosphonates were performed in order to optimise the shape of the side chain of the potential inhibitors in S1 pocket of leucine aminopeptidase [E.C.3.4.11.1]. Analysis of a series of compounds with aromatic, aliphatic and alicyclic P1 side chains enabled to find out the structural features, optimal for that fragment of inhibitors of LAP. The most active among all investigated compounds were the phosphonic analogues of homo-tyrosine ( K i = 120 nM) and homo-phenylalanine ( K i = 140 nM), which even as racemic mixtures were better inhibitors in comparison with the best till now-phosphonic analogue of l -leucine (230 nM). Additional comparison of the inhibitory activity obtained for aminopeptidase N (APN, E.C.3.4.11.2) give insight into structural preferences of both enzymes.

The stereoselective synthesis of 1-amino-2-alkylalkanephosphonic acids, namely, compounds bearing two chiral centers, was achieved by the condensation of hypophosphorous acid salts of (R)(+) or (S)(-)-N-alpha-methylbenzylamine with the appropriate aldehydes in isopropanol. Simultaneous deprotection and oxidation by the action of bromine water provided equimolar mixtures of the RS:RR and SR:SS diastereomers of desired acids. They appeared to act as moderate inhibitors of kidney leucine aminopeptidase with potency dependent on the absolute configuration of both centers of chirality.

Three dehydrotetrapeptides of rationally varying structure were prepared and tested as affectors of cathepsin C. These compounds appeared to be substrates of the enzyme, being equipotent with their classical counterparts. Thus, replacement of amino acid in a short peptide by corresponding dehydroamino acid does not prevent cathepsin C in recognizing dehydropeptide as its substrate. Copyright © 2001 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Aminopeptidases are proteolytic enzymes that remove one amino acid at a time from N-terminus of peptidic substrates. In plants, inhibitors of aminopeptidases can find potential applications in agriculture as herbicides. In this report we have used a library of fluorogenic derivatives of natural and unnatural amino acids for substrate specificity profiling of oat (Avena sativa) aminopeptidase. Interestingly, we have found that this enzyme recognizes effectively among the natural amino acids basic residues like Arg and Lys, hydrophobic Phe, Leu and Met, but also to some extent acidic residues Asp and Glu. In the case of unnatural amino acids hydrophobic residues (hPhe and hCha) and basic hArg were preferentially recognized.

Mammalian cathepsin C is primarily responsible for the removal of N-terminal dipeptides and activation of several serine proteases in inflammatory or immune cells, while its malarial parasite ortholog dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 1 plays a crucial role in catabolizing the hemoglobin of its host erythrocyte. In this report, we describe the systematic substrate specificity analysis of three cathepsin C orthologs from Homo sapiens (human), Bos taurus (bovine) and Plasmodium falciparum (malaria parasite). Here, we present a new approach with a tailored fluorogenic substrate library designed and synthesized to probe the S1 and S2 pocket preferences of these enzymes with both natural and a broad range of unnatural amino acids. Our approach identified very efficiently hydrolyzed substrates containing unnatural amino acids, which resulted in the design of significantly better substrates than those previously known. Additionally, in this study significant differences in terms of the structures of optimal substrates for human and malarial orthologs are important from the therapeutic point of view. These data can be also used for the design of specific inhibitors or activity-based probes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00726-013-1654-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.