Modern Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis and its Applications

Abstract

Solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) was first conceived by Professor Bruce Merrifield nearly half a century ago in 1959. Since the publication 4 years later of the first working protocol, the technology has undergone continuous refinement and development and, today, remains a vitally important tool in many areas of chemical and medical research. Its enormous popularity led to the hosting of the inaugural ‘‘Modern Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis and its Applications’’ symposium that was held from 17–20 October, 2007 at beautiful Port Douglas, in the far North Queensland, Australia. It was an official satellite meeting of the combined 4th International Peptide Symposium, 7th Australian Peptide Symposium and 2nd Asia Pacific International Peptide Symposium that was held in nearby Cairns, Queensland, Australia from 21–25 October, 2007. More than 100 international and Australian delegates were treated to an exciting scientific program that was prepared by the conference chairman, John Wade, and the local and international scientific organizing committees. Many aspects of current and novel SPPS stratagems and applications were presented and the overall enthusiasm and energetic participation brought by each delegate made for thought provoking, lively and entertaining discussions during and after the program sessions. The meeting was opened by the plenary speakers Professors James Tam and Michael Verlander on the topics of ‘‘Problems and recent advances in solid phase peptide synthesis’’ and ‘‘Large scale synthesis of peptide pharmaceuticals—successes and challenges’’, respectively. The remainder of the scientific program covered the major themes of SPPS with sessions which included ‘‘Solid phase organic synthesis’’, ‘‘SPPS— methodology’’, ‘‘Applications to Medicine’’, ‘‘Native chemical ligation’’, ‘‘Combinatorial libraries and arrays’’ and ‘‘SPPS—Microwaves’’. The oral presentations were also complemented by an evening poster session. The overall success of the meeting was in significant part due to the financial support provided by and participation of the principal sponsor, CEM-Ai Scientific, and major sponsors Australian Peptide Association, AnaSpec Inc., Auspep, Polypeptide Laboratories, Shimadzu Biotech, Activotec, Mimotopes as well as other sponsors and supporters. The enthusiastic dialogue surrounding each session brought forth the idea to call on delegates to submit an article on their work for this special issue of the International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics. Herein, is a collection of fully peer-reviewed articles which not only demonstrates the outstanding science presented and the variety of topics discussed, but also captures the vibrancy of this meeting. We would like to thank each of the contributing authors for their patience and cooperation in making this special issue possible. We are also very grateful to all of the referees who agreed and then quickly reviewed these articles and to Nina Bennink, Marie Veth C. Chua and Stephanie Jakob from the Editorial Office at Springer Publishing. Our thanks also to Robert Maged of Springer for his excellent copyediting of this special issue. N. M. O’Brien-Simpson (&) CRC for Oral Health Science, Melbourne Dental School, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC 3010, Australia e-mail: neil.obs@unimelb.edu.au