Synthesis of relaxin-2 and insulin-like peptide 5 enabled by novel tethering and traceless chemical excision.

This report presents an entirely chemical, general strategy for the synthesis of relaxin-2 and insulin-like peptide 5. Historically, these two peptides have represented two of the more synthetically challenging members of the insulin superfamily. The key synthetic steps involve two sequential oxime ligations to covalently link the individual A-chain and B-chain, followed by disulfide bond formation under aqueous, redox conditions. This is followed by two chemical reactions that employ diketopiperazine cyclization-mediated cleavage and ester hydrolysis to liberate the connecting peptide and the heterodimeric product. This approach avoids the conventional iodine-mediated disulfide bond formation and enzyme-assisted proteolysis to generate biologically active two-chain peptides. This novel synthetic strategy is ideally suited for peptides such as relaxin and insulin-like peptide 5 as they possess methionine and tryptophan that are labile under strong oxidative conditions. Additionally, these peptides possess multiple arginine and lysine residues that preclude the use of trypsin-like enzymes to obtain biologically active hormones. This synthetic methodology is conceivably applicable to other two-chain peptides that contain multiple disulfide bonds. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Biomimetic Synthesis of Insulin Enabled by Oxime Ligation and Traceless "C-Peptide" Chemical Excision.

For decades, insulin has represented a preeminent synthetic target. Recently introduced "biomimetic" strategies based on convertible single-chain precursors require incorporation of a chemical linker or a unique proteolytic site, which limits their practicality. In this approach the A- and B-chains are linked by two sequential oxime ligations followed by disulfide bond formation under redox conditions and linker excision by diketopiperazine (DKP) formation and ester hydrolysis, yielding native two-chain insulin. The method is expected to be applicable to any member of the insulin superfamily.

Benzofused tricycles based on 2-quinoxalinol.

This paper describes our recent efforts to synthesize novel compound scaffolds integrating 2-quinoxalinol with privileged structures of 1,3-dihydro-benzoimidazol-2-one, 1,3-dihydro-benzoimidazole-2-thione, 3-hydroxy-1H-quinoxalin-2-one, 2H-benzo[1,4]oxazin-3-ol, 2H-benzo[1,4]thiazin-3-ol, and 1,3,4,5-tetrahydro-benzo[1,4]diazepin-2-one, respectively. Eight novel benzofused tricycles and their substituent diversity points were developed. These include pyrazino[2,3-g]quinoxaline-2,8-diol (I), 3-hydroxy-6,8,9,10-tetrahydro-1,4,6,10-tetraaza-cyclohepta[b]naphthalen-7-one (II), 6-hydroxy-4H-1-oxa-4,5,8-triaza-anthracen-3-one (III), 6-hydroxy-4H-1-thia-4,5,8-triaza-anthracen-3-one (IV), 6-hydroxy-1,1-dioxo-1,4-dihydro-2H-1lambda(6)-thia-4,5,8-triaza-anthracen-3-one (V), 6-hydroxy-1,3-dihydro-imidazo[4,5-g]quinoxalin-2-one (VI), 6-hydroxy-1,3-dihydro-imidazo[4,5-g]quinoxaline-2-thione (VII), and 7-hydroxy-1,4-dihydro-pyrazino[2,3-g]quinoxaline-2,3-dione (VIII). This strategy of integrating two benzofused privileged structures into one molecule may provide a greater chance for the discovery of novel lead compounds.

Simultaneous solid-phase synthesis of quinoxalinone and benzimidazole scaffold libraries.

This article describes a method for simultaneous solid-phase synthesis of a quinoxalinone and benzimidazole scaffold library that consists of 240 members. The library was generated by using the solid-phase "split-and-pool" approach and the IRORI sorting system.

Screening and identification of linear B-cell epitopes and entry-blocking peptide of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-associated coronavirus using synthetic overlapping peptide library.

A 10-mer overlapping peptide library has been synthesized for screening and identification of linear B-cell epitopes of severe acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which spanned the major structural proteins of SARS-CoV. One hundred and eleven candidate peptides were positive according to the result of PEPscan, which were assembled into 22 longer peptides. Five of these peptides showed high cross-immunoreactivities (approximately 66.7 to 90.5%) to SARS convalescent patients' sera from the severest epidemic regions of the China mainland. Most interestingly, S(471-503), a peptide located at the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV, could specifically block the binding between the RBD and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, resulting in the inhibition of SARS-CoV entrance into host cells in vitro. The study demonstrated that S(471-503) peptide was a potential immunoantigen for the development of peptide-based vaccine or a candidate for further drug evaluation against the SARS-CoV virus-cell fusion.

Parallel approach for solution-phase synthesis of 2-quinoxalinol analogues and their inhibition of LPS-induced TNF-alpha release on mouse macrophages in vitro.

A parallel solution-phase synthesis of 2-quinoxalinol analogues is described. The key step-simultaneous reductions of m-Ar(NO2)2 to m-Ar(NH2)2 was investigated extensively. We obtained preliminary pharmacological activity of those analogues for the inhibition of LPS-induced TNF-alpha release on mouse macrophage in vitro. Two compounds revealed inhibitory activity, with IC50 values of 0.40 microM (7-amino-6-[(3-methoxypropyl)amino]-3-methyl-2-quinoxalinol) and 2.2 microM (7-amino-6-[(3-butoxypropyl)amino]-3-methyl-2-quinoxalinol), respectively.