Abstract
The development of peptide stapling techniques to stabilise α-helical secondary structure motifs of peptides led to the design of modulators of protein–protein interactions, which had been considered undruggable for a long time. We disclose a novel approach towards peptide stapling utilising macrocyclisation by late-stage Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling of bromotryptophan-containing peptides of the catenin-binding domain of axin. Optimisation of the linker length in order to find a compromise between both sufficient linker rigidity and flexibility resulted in a peptide with an increased α-helicity and enhanced binding affinity to its native binding partner β-catenin. An increased proteolytic stability against proteinase K has been demonstrated.
Highlights
Peptide cyclisation emerged as a popular approach to limit conformational mobility in order to enhance the binding affinity towards a biological target
The development of peptide stapling techniques to stabilise α-helical secondary structure motifs of peptides led to the design of modulators of protein–protein interactions, which had been considered undruggable for a long time
The peptides were synthesised on Rink amide resin by solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) with Fmoc/t-Bu strategy followed by on-resin Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling (SMC)
Summary
Peptide cyclisation emerged as a popular approach to limit conformational mobility in order to enhance the binding affinity towards a biological target. Cross-linking of side chain residues results in constrained conformations and can be used to stabilise α-helical secondary structures. The helical structure could be slightly enhanced but this effect was not as pronounced as for the linear parent peptide aAxWt in TFE/water 4:1 (see Supporting Information File 1, Figure S4).
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