Issue 2, 2021

A biocompatible stapling reaction for in situ generation of constrained peptides

Abstract

Constrained peptides are promising next-generation therapeutics. Peptide stapling is a particularly attractive technique to generate constrained macrocycles with improved biological activity and metabolic stability. We introduce a biocompatible two-component stapling approach based on the reagent 2,6-dicyanopyridine and a pseudo-cysteine amino acid. Stapling can proceed either directly on-resin during solid-phase synthesis or following isolation of the linear peptide. The stapling reaction is orthogonal to natural amino acid side chains and completes in aqueous solution at physiological pH, enabling its direct use in biochemical assays. We performed a small screening campaign of short peptides targeting the Zika virus protease NS2B-NS3, allowing the direct comparison of linear with in situ stapled peptides. A stapled screening hit showed over 28-fold stronger inhibition than its linear analogue, demonstrating the successful identification of constrained peptide inhibitors.

Graphical abstract: A biocompatible stapling reaction for in situ generation of constrained peptides

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
16 Sept. 2020
Accepted
03 Nov. 2020
First published
04 Nov. 2020
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 669-674

A biocompatible stapling reaction for in situ generation of constrained peptides

R. Morewood and C. Nitsche, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 669 DOI: 10.1039/D0SC05125J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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