Effect of Copper Salts on Peptide Bond Formation Using Peptide Thioesters

<UFIGR ID="ol035742mn00001">In the present paper, systematic studies revealed that Cu(I) salts in general and Cu(II) salts under certain circumstances promote effective reaction between peptide thiol esters and the N-terminal amino function of a second peptide segment to give the native amide bond for both solution- and solid-phase syntheses. Chiral integrity was retained. Reaction conditions were optimized and applied to the synthesis of a small protein, the identity of which was confirmed by NMR analysis.