Process for the synthesis of peptides amides by side-chain attachment to a solid phase

1. A process for the solid-phase synthesis of a peptide amide which comprises attaching Fmoc-cysteine Cα-carboxamide amino acid to a solid support, wherein the solid support is 4-methoxytrityl polystyrene via its side chain, removing the α-nitrogen protecting group and assembling a peptide chain on said α-nitrogen.

2. A process for the solid-phase synthesis of a peptide amide which comprises the steps of:

(a) attaching Fmoc-cysteine Cα-carboxamide amino acid to a solid support, wherein the solid support is 4-methoxytrityl polystyrene via its side chain;

(b) deprotecting the Fmoc-cysteine Cα-carboxamide amino acid by removing the Fmoc group under conditions such that the cysteine Cα-carboxamide amino acid remains connected to the solid support and coupling an additional α-nitrogen protected amino acid to the unprotected α-nitrogen of the cysteine Cα-carboxamide to yield an attached peptide amide with a protected N-terminus;

(c) deprotecting the N-terminus of the attached peptide amide by removing the α-nitrogen protecting group under conditions such that the attached peptide amide remains connected to the solid support and coupling an additional α-nitrogen protected amino acid to the unprotected N-terminus of the attached peptide amide;

(d) repeating step (c) until the desired peptide amide is assembled on the solid support;

(e) removing the α-nitrogen protecting group from the N-terminus of said peptide amide and optionally reacting with a non-amino acid N-terminal residue; and

(f) cleaving the link between the side chain of the cysteine Cα-carboxamide amino acid of the peptide amide and the solid support so that the peptide amide is released from the solid support and optionally removing any side chain protecting groups.

3. A process according to claim 2 comprising the additional steps:

(g) isolating the peptide amide produced in stepf (f);

(h) optionally purifying the isolated peptide from step (g); and

(i) cyclising the peptide amide.

4. A process according to claim 3 wherein the peptide amide is cyclised via the formation of a disulphide bridge between two residues in the peptide amide.

5. A process according to either claim 1 or claim 2 for the solid-phase synthesis of c[Mpr-Har-Gly-Asp-Trp-Pro-Cys]-NH 2 cyclised through a disulphide bridge between Cys and Mpr which comprises:

(i) attaching the thiol side chain of Fmoc-Cys-NH 2 to an appropriate reactive solid support;

(ii) carrying out a solid-phase peptide synthesis to form a linear peptide amide;

(iii) cleaving the linear peptide amide from the solid support to yield a linear peptide amide of the sequence Mpr-S—S-Mpr-Har-Gly-Asp-Trp-Pro-Cys-NH 2 , HS-Mpr-Har-Gly-Asp-Trp-Pro-Cys-NH 2 or -[S-Mpr-Har-Gly-Asp-Trp-Pro-Cys-NH 2 ]2; and

(iv) cyclising the peptide amide to form said c[Mpr-Har-Gly-Asp-Trp-Pro-Cys]-NH 2 .

6. A process according to either claim 1 or claim 2 for the solid-phase synthesis of c[Mpr-Har-Gly-Asp-Trp-Pro-Cys]-NH 2 cyclised through a disulphide bridge between Cys and Mpr comprises:

(i) attaching the thiol side chain of Fmoc-Cys-NH 2 to an appropriate reactive solid support;

(ii) carrying out a solid-phase peptide synthesis without the use of a protecting group on the side chain of homoarginine to form a linear peptide amide;

(iii) cleaving the linear peptide amide from the solid support to yield a linear peptide amide of the sequence H—S-Mpr-Har-Gly-Asp-Trp-Pro-Cys-NH 2 ; and

(iv) cyclising the peptide amide to form said c[Mpr-Har-Gly-Asp-Trp-Pro-Cys]-NH 2 .

7. A process according to claim 2 wherein c[Mpr-Har-Gly-Asp-Trp-Pro-Cys]-NH 2 is the peptide amide, 4-methoxytrityl polystyrene is the solid support and Fmoc is the c-nitrogen protecting group.