ABSTRACT
Peptide and protein chemistry has now come of age. It is already providing basic information for research into such areas as neuroscience, immunology, and infectious diseases, to name a few. Molecular biologists, at the time (mid-1970s), were somewhat justified in bypassing protein chemistry because it was not useful in investigations of proteins of importance but of low abundance. Before detailing the different procedures of modern protein and peptide chemistry, it would be interesting to look at their history and development. The development of rapid methods for isolation of proteins and peptides was made possible by the smaller and smaller amounts required for sequencing. Sequence data, whether obtained by protein or complementary deoxyribonucleic acid sequencing provide information for peptide synthesis. Many more proteins are now under investigation. Aside from its scientific interest, three-dimensional structures of proteins will lead to the next major advances in biotechnology.
