Selective Peptide Chain Extension at the N‐terminus of Aspartic and Glutamic Acids Utilizing 1‐(N‐protected‐α‐aminoacyl)benzotriazoles

Diverse N-protected di-(3a-d, 3a + a', 5a-d, 5d + d', and 7a-g) and tripeptides (10a-h) were synthesized under mild reaction conditions in good yields (65-97%) by acylation with 1-(N-protected-alpha-aminoacyl)benzotriazoles of the amino groups of free aspartic and glutamic acids. Complete retention of chirality was demonstrated by parallel experiments involving D-Ala, L-Ala, and DL-Ala for the preparation of dipeptides and tripeptides, and supported by NMR and HPLC analyses.