1. Controlled synthesis of amino acid-based pH-responsive chiral polymers and self-assembly of their block copolymers
Kamal Bauri, Saswati Ghosh Roy, Shashank Pant, Priyadarsi De Langmuir. 2013 Feb 26;29(8):2764-74. doi: 10.1021/la304918s. Epub 2013 Feb 11.
Leucine/isoleucine side chain polymers are of interest due to their hydrophobicity and reported role in the formation of α-helical structures. The synthesis and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of amino acid-based chiral monomers, namely Boc-L-leucine methacryloyloxyethyl ester (Boc-L-Leu-HEMA, 1a), Boc-L-leucine acryloyloxyethyl ester (Boc-L-Leu-HEA, 1b), Boc-L-isoleucine methacryloyloxyethyl ester (Boc-L-Ile-HEMA, 1c), and Boc-L-isoleucine acryloyloxyethyl ester (Boc-L-Ile-HEA, 1d), are reported. The controlled nature of the polymerization of the said chiral monomers in N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) at 70 °C is evident from the formation of narrow polydisperse polymers, the molecular weight controlled by the monomer/chain transfer agent (CTA) molar ratio and the linear relationship between molecular weight and monomer conversion. The resulting well-defined polymers were used as macro-CTAs to prepare corresponding diblock copolymers by RAFT polymerization of methyl (meth)acrylate monomers. Deprotection of Boc groups in the homopolymers and block copolymers under acidic conditions produced cationic, pH-responsive polymers with primary amine moieties at the side chains. The optical activity of the homopolymers and block copolymers were studied using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and specific rotation measurements. The self-assembling nature of the block copolymers to produce highly ordered structures was illustrated through dynamic light scattering (DLS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies. The side chain amine functionality instills pH-responsive behavior, which makes these cationic polymers attractive candidates for drug delivery applications, as well as for conjugation of biomolecules.
2. Synthesis and Anti-microbial Activity of Novel Phosphatidylethanolamine-N-amino Acid Derivatives
Tadla Vijeetha, et al. J Oleo Sci. 2015;64(7):705-12. doi: 10.5650/jos.ess15063. Epub 2015 May 21.
The study involved synthesis of five novel amino acid derivatives of phosphatidylethanolamine isolated from egg yolk lecithin employing a three step procedure i) N-protection of L-amino acids with BOC anhydride in alkaline medium ii) condensation of - CO2H group of N-protected amino acid with free -NH2 of PE by a peptide linkage and iii) deprotection of N-protected group of amino acids to obtain phosphatidylethanolamine-N-amino acid derivatives in 60-75% yield. The five L-amino acids used were L glycine, L-valine, L-leucine, L-isoleucine and L-phenylalanine. The amino acid derivatives were screened for anti-baterial activity against B. subtilis, S. aureus, P. aeroginosa and E. coli taking Streptomycin as reference compound and anti-fungal activity against C. albicans, S. cervisiae, A. niger taking AmphotericinB as reference compound. All the amino acid derivatives exhibited extraordinary anti-bacterial activities about 3 folds or comparable to Streptomycin and moderate or no anti-fungal activity against Amphotericin-B.
3. Towards the Synthesis of a Heterocyclic Analogue of Natural Cyclooligopeptide with Improved Bio-properties
Rajiv Dahiya, Sunita Dahiya, Suresh V Chennupati, Vernon Davis, Vijaya Sahadeo, Jayvadan K Patel Curr Org Synth. 2022 Mar 3;19(2):267-278. doi: 10.2174/1570179418666211005141811.
Aims: The present investigation is targeted towards the synthesis of a novel analogue of a natural peptide of marine origin. Background: Marine sponges are enriched with bioactive secondary metabolites, especially circu-lar peptides. Heterocycles are established organic compounds with potential biological value. Tak-ing into consideration the bio-properties of heterocycles and marine sponge-derived natural pep-tides, an effort was made for the synthesis of a heterocyclic analogue of a natural cyclopeptide. Objective: A heterocyclic analogue of a sponge-derived proline-containing cyclic peptide, rolloam-ide A, was synthesized by interaction of Boc-protected L-histidinyl-L-prolyl-L-valine and L-prolyl-L-leucyl-L-prolyl-L-isoleucine methyl ester and compared with synthetic rolloamide A with bioac-tivity against bacteria, fungi, and earthworms. Methods: The synthesis of cycloheptapeptide was accomplished employing the liquid phase method. The larger peptide segment was prepared by interaction of Boc-protected L-prolyl-L-leu-cine with L-prolyl-L-isoleucine methyl ester. Similarly, the tripeptide unit was synthesized from Boc-protected L-histidinyl-L-proline with L-valine ester. The linear heptapeptide segment (7) was cyclized by utilizing pentafluorophenyl (pfp) ester, and the structure was elucidated by elemental and spectral (IR, 1H/13C NMR, MS) analysis. The peptide was also screened for diverse bioactivities such as antibacterial, antifungal, and potential against earthworms and cytotoxicity. Results: The novel cyclooligopeptide was synthesized with 84% yield by making use of car-bodiimides. The synthesized cyclopeptide exhibited significant cytotoxicity against two cell lines. In addition, promising antifungal and antihelmintic properties were observed for newly synthesized heterocyclic peptide derivative (8) against dermatophytes and three earthworm species at 6 μg/mL and 2 mg/mL, respectively. Conclusion: Solution-phase technique employing carbodiimide chemistry was established to be promising for synthesizing the cycloheptapeptide derivative (8), and C5H5N was proved to be a better base for heptapeptide circling when compared to N-methylmorpholine and triethylamine.