Peptide Bond Formation Between Unprotected Amino Acids: Convergent Synthesis of Oligopeptides

In the history of peptide chemical synthesis, amino acid-protecting groups have become basic, essential, and common moieties. As the use of protecting groups for amino acids effectively suppresses unwanted side reactions and enables the desired reaction to proceed selectively, their use continues regardless of the complexities of the protection processes and the waste generated by the deprotection residues. We developed peptide bond formation between unprotected amino acids to form silacyclic dipeptides. This is the first report of the proceeding cross-condensation between an unprotected amino acid and another unprotected amino acid. The selectivity, reaction yields, and purity of the products were satisfactory. In addition, we demonstrated further elongation of these compounds and achieved convergent synthesis with peptide-peptide elongation without the use of coupling reagents. Thus, these methods showed the potential to unlock a new, more efficient synthetic path toward polypeptides.