Light-controllable dithienylethene-modified cyclic peptides: photoswitching the in vivo toxicity in zebrafish embryos

• Sergii Afonin,
• Oleg Babii,
• Aline Reuter,
• Volker Middel,
• Masanari Takamiya,
• Uwe Strähle,
• Igor V. Komarov and
• Anne S. Ulrich

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 39–49, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.6

• peptide synthesis technology [3][4] have enabled peptide production at industrial scales, the exploration of therapeutic peptides as potential drugs is rapidly developing [4][5][6]. It has been shown that peptide drugs are less immunogenic than biologics and can hit the “undruggable” space of molecular

• targets [2][7][8]. As a result, the market for peptide drugs (e.g., hormones, receptor antagonists, anticancer, or antibiotic agents) grows faster than that of many other chemotherapeutics [9]. Significant general disadvantages of peptides as pharmacological agents are their poor oral bioavailability, low

Position-dependent impact of hexafluoroleucine and trifluoroisoleucine on protease digestion

• Susanne Huhmann,
• Anne-Katrin Stegemann,
• Kristin Folmert,
• Damian Klemczak,
• Johann Moschner,
• Michelle Kube and
• Beate Koksch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2869–2882, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.279

• this study when positioned N-terminal to the cleavage site. These results provide valuable information for the application of fluorinated amino acids in the design of proteolytically stable peptide-based pharmaceuticals. Keywords: fluorinated amino acids; hexafluoroleucine; peptide drugs; protease

Solid-state mechanochemical ω-functionalization of poly(ethylene glycol)

• Michael Y. Malca,
• Pierre-Olivier Ferko,
• Tomislav Friščić and
• Audrey Moores

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1963–1968, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.191

• manufacturing, drug development and nanotechnology. PEG derivatives are being increasingly used to covalently modify small molecule and peptide drugs, as well as bioactive nanomaterials in order to improve solubility in biological serum, reduce immunogenicity, and enhance pharmacokinetic profiles. Herein we

Synthesis of a deuterated probe for the confocal Raman microscopy imaging of squalenoyl nanomedicines

• Eric Buchy,
• Branko Vukosavljevic,
• Maike Windbergs,
• Dunja Sobot,
• Camille Dejean,
• Simona Mura,
• Patrick Couvreur and
• Didier Desmaële

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1127–1135, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.109

• when dealing with low drug concentrations or biological-like structures such as peptide drugs or nucleoside analogues. To overcome this issue, deuterium can be introduced to a sample molecule, as it exhibits a significant Raman signal at around 2200 cm−1, which is in a so called “silent region” (1800

Automated solid-phase peptide synthesis to obtain therapeutic peptides

• Veronika Mäde,
• Sylvia Els-Heindl and
• Annette G. Beck-Sickinger

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 1197–1212, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.118

• : automated synthesis; automation; lipidation; PEGylation; peptide drugs; solid-phase peptide synthesis; therapeutic peptides; Introduction Peptides and proteins are involved in a large variety of biochemical processes and physiological functions. Peptides can consist of up to 50 amino acids and have

• successively offers new targets for peptide drugs that classical small organic molecules cannot cover [3]. Although small synthetic drugs are in general orally applicable owing to their high metabolic stability, capable to cross cell membranes and small in size, which simplifies their production and costs

• nearly twice as fast as overall drugs [7]. Up to now, nearly 70 peptide drugs were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and reached the medicinal market [11]. In addition, many peptides are currently in clinical (>150) and advanced preclinical (>400) phases, exemplifying the urgent