ABSTRACT

The principle of SPPS is that the peptide is anchored to an insoluble support, a resin, which is stable in the chemical reactions carried out during synthesis (Figure 15.1). SPPS is superior to other methods due to its speed, versatility, possibility for automatization, etc. Protected peptides are often poorly soluble in organic solvents, and an inherent advantage of SPPS is that attachment to the crosslinked polymer resin suppresses aggregation and promotes solvation of the peptide chain. Chemical reactants can then freely diffuse into the interior of the resin beads, and the reaction rates are close to those in solution. In contrast to solution synthesis, a large excess of reagents can be used to rapidly drive the reactions to completion since excess reagents are easily washed away after each step. The intermediates in the synthesis are not puried

and isolated, and this makes SPPS easier to perform and decreases the time required for the synthesis of a peptide.