Development of a new class of photochromic peptides by using diarylethene-based non-natural amino acids

We synthesized novel photochromic non-natural amino acids based on diarylethene skeletons. The non-natural amino acids can be introduced at any positions in various types of peptides by solid/solution phase synthesis. In this study, linear and cyclic peptides including the diarylethene residues were prepared. Their peptides showed photochromism peculiar to original diarylethenes.