Application of a partially automated solid-phase peptide synthesis apparatus to the synthesis of a protected peptide fragment of cytochrome c

Abstract

In solid-phase peptide synthesis, more than 80% of the discrete steps involve washing the resin with various solvents to remove unreacted reagents and byproducts. A simple, inexpensive apparatus has been designed to perform automatically up to three successive washing cycles, each consisting of the addition of a measured volume of solvent, stirring for a fixed time interval, and then draining off the solvent. The apparatus is a very useful labor-saving device because the time period between operator interventions (about 10 min) is long enough to permit other work to be done, whereas the manual peptide shaker approach requires virtually constant attendance by the operator. This peptide synthesizer proved to be both reliable and convenient during synthesis of a protected pentadecapeptide corresponding to amino acid residues 66 to 80 of horse heart cytochrome c.