Synthesis of peptide-PNA-peptide conjugates by semi-solid-phase chemical ligation combined with deactivation/capture of excess reactants

An expeditious route to peptide-PNA-peptide conjugates following a two-step native chemical ligation (NCL) strategy is described. A cys-PNA-thioester is immobilized on PEGA-aldehyde resin by thiazolidine formation, followed by capping of excess resin aldehydes. The first NCL reaction is then performed with the immobilized PNA-thioester, to give, after release from the solid support, the cys-PNA-peptide intermediate with relatively high purity. The latter is then converted into the target compound by the second NCL reaction with a thioester peptide, the excess of which is captured using a cysteine-PEGA resin. The resulting peptide-PNA-peptide can then be readily isolated by a simple purification step. (C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2004.