Laurent Boiteau

An Expeditious Multigram-Scale Synthesis of Lysine Dendrigraft (DGL) Polymers by Aqueous N-Carboxyanhydride Polycondensation

The synthesis and characterisation of new arborescent architectures of poly(L-lysine), called lysine dendrigraft (DGL) polymers, are described. DGL polymers were prepared through a multiple-generation scheme (up to generation 5) in a weakly acidic aqueous medium by polycondensing N(epsilon)-trifluoroacetyl-L-lysine-N-carboxyanhydride (Lys(Tfa)-NCA) onto the previous generation G(n-1) of DGL, which was used as a macroinitiator. The first generation employed spontaneous NCA polycondensation in water without a macroinitiator; this afforded low-molecular-weight, linear poly(L-lysine) G1 with a polymerisation degree of 8 and a polydispersity index of 1.2. The spontaneous precipitation of the growing N(epsilon)-Tfa-protected polymer (GnP) ensures moderate control of the molecular weight (with unimodal distribution) and easy work-up. The subsequent alkaline removal of Tfa protecting groups afforded generation Gn of DGL as a free form (with 35-60% overall yield from NCA precursor, depending on the DGL generation) that was either used directly in the synthesis of the next generation (G(n+1)) or collected for other uses. Unprotected forms of DGL G1-G5 were characterised by size-exclusion chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. The latter technique allowed us to assess the branching density of DGL, the degree of which (ca. 25%) turned out to be intermediate between previously described dendritic graft poly(L-lysines) and lysine dendrimers. An optimised monomer (NCA) versus macroinitiator (DGL G(n-1)) ratio allowed us to obtain unimodal molecular weight distributions with polydispersity indexes ranging from 1.3 to 1.5. Together with the possibility of reaching high molecular weights (with a polymerisation degree of ca. 1000 for G5) within a few synthetic steps, this synthetic route to DGL provides an easy, cost-efficient, multigram-scale access to dendritic polylysines with various potential applications in biology and in other domains.

DYNAMIC CO-EVOLUTION OF PEPTIDES AND CHEMICAL ENERGETICS, A GATEWAY TO THE EMERGENCE OF HOMOCHIRALITY AND THE CATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF PEPTIDES

We propose a scenario for the dynamic co-evolution of peptides and energy on the primitive Earth. From a multi component system consisting of hydrogen cyanide, several carbonyl compounds, ammonia, alkyl amine, carbonic anhydride, borate and isocyanic acid, we show that the reversibility of this system leads to several intermediate nitriles, that irreversibly evolve to α-amino acids and N-carbamoyl amino acids via selective catalytic processes. On the primitive Earth these N-carbamoyl amino acids combined with energetic molecules (NOx) may have been the core of a molecular engine producing peptides permanently and assuring their recycling and evolution. We present this molecular engine, a production example, and its various selectivities. The perspectives for such a dynamic approach to the emergence of peptides are evoked in the conclusion.

Energy flows, metabolism and translation

Thermodynamics provides an essential approach to understanding how living organisms survive in an organized state despite the second law. Exchanges with the environment constantly produce large amounts of entropy compensating for their own organized state. In addition to this constraint on self-organization, the free energy delivered to the system, in terms of potential, is essential to understand how a complex chemistry based on carbon has emerged. Accordingly, the amount of free energy brought about through discrete events must reach the strength needed to induce chemical changes in which covalent bonds are reorganized. The consequence of this constraint was scrutinized in relation to both the development of a carbon metabolism and that of translation. Amino acyl adenylates involved as aminoacylation intermediates of the latter process reach one of the higher free energy levels found in biochemistry, which may be informative on the range in which energy was exchanged in essential early biochemical processes. The consistency of this range with the amount of energy needed to weaken covalent bonds involving carbon may not be accidental but the consequence of the abovementioned thermodynamic constraints. This could be useful in building scenarios for the emergence and early development of translation.

5(4H)-Oxazolones as Intermediates in the Carbodiimide-and Cyanamide-Promoted Peptide Activations in Aqueous Solution

The early days: although considered a species to be avoided in peptide chemistry, the intermediacy of 5(4H)-oxazolones is demonstrated to be essential for the formation of peptides through cyanamide and carbodiimide activation in aqueous solution.

SOLID PHASE DECARBAMOYLATION OF MONOALKYLUREAS AND N-CARBAMOYLPEPTIDES USING GASEOUS NOX : A NEW EASY DEPROTECTION REACTION WITH MINIMUM WASTE

Abstract Treating solid monoalkylureas (including N-carbamoylpeptides) when hydrated by ca. 1 eq. water, by gaseous NOx (nitrogen peroxide or a mixture of nitric oxide and oxygen) in stoichiometric excess, deprotects quantitatively the amino function at room temperature in less than 30 minutes. The reaction was exemplified for the N-carbamoyl-Leucine-Glycine dipeptide and N-benzylurea, and turns out to be a promising method for removing an N-carbamoyl group from various monosubstituted ureas, with no waste other than nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Solid N-carbamoylpeptide is quantitatively deprotected in 30 min at r.t. by gaseous N 2 O 4 (or NO+O 2 ) and a small amount of water, without side-reactions. Download full-size image

Diastereoselectivity in prebiotically relevant 5(4H)-oxazolone-mediated peptide couplings

A stereochemical study of a potentially prebiotic peptide-forming reaction was carried out as the first part of a systems chemistry investigation of potential paths for symmetry breaking. Substantial diastereomeric excesses result from a fast epimerization of the 5(4H)-oxazolone intermediate in aqueous solution.

Energy sources, self-organization, and the origin of life.

The emergence and early developments of life are considered from the point of view that contingent events that inevitably marked evolution were accompanied by deterministic driving forces governing the selection between different alternatives. Accordingly, potential energy sources are considered for their propensity to induce self-organization within the scope of the chemical approach to the origin of life. Requirements in terms of quality of energy locate thermal or photochemical activation in the atmosphere as highly likely processes for the formation of activated low-molecular weight organic compounds prone to induce biomolecular self-organization through their ability to deliver quanta of energy matching the needs of early biochemical pathways or the reproduction of self-replicating entities. These lines of reasoning suggest the existence of a direct connection between the free energy content of intermediates of early pathways and the quanta of energy delivered by available sources of energy.

Activation of carboxyl group with cyanate: peptide bond formation from dicarboxylic acids

The reaction of cyanate with C-terminal carboxyl groups of peptides in aqueous solution was considered as a potential pathway for the abiotic formation of peptide bonds under the condition of the primitive Earth. The catalytic effect of dicarboxylic acids on cyanate hydrolysis was definitely attributed to intramolecular nucleophilic catalysis by the observation of the 1H-NMR signal of succinic anhydride when reacting succinic acid with KOCN in aqueous solution (pH 2.2–5.5). The formation of amide bonds was noticed when adding amino acids or amino acid derivatives into the solution. The reaction of N-acyl aspartic acid derivatives was observed to proceed similarly and the scope of the cyanate-promoted reaction was analyzed from the standpoint of prebiotic peptide formation. The role of cyanate in activating peptide C-terminus constitutes a proof of principle that intramolecular reactions of adducts of peptides C-terminal carboxyl groups with activating agents represent a pathway for peptide activation in aqueous solution, the relevance of which is discussed in connexion with the issue of the emergence of homochirality.

The Activation of Free Dipeptides Promoted by Strong Activating Agents in Water Does not Yield Diketopiperazines

The activation of dipeptides was studied in the perspective of the abiotic formation of oligopeptides of significant length as a requirement for secondary structure formation. The formation of piperazin-2,5-diones (DKP), previously considered as a dead end when activating free dipeptides, was shown in this work to be efficiently suppressed when using strong activating agents (e.g., carbodiimides). This behaviour was explained by the fast formation of a 5(4H)-oxazolone intermediate at a rate that exceeds the time scale of the rotation of the peptide bond from the predominant trans-conformation into the cis-isomer required for DKP formation. No DKP was observed when using strong activating agents whereas phosphate mixed anhydrides or moderately activated esters were observed to predominantly yield DKP. The DKP side-reaction no longer constitutes a drawback for the C-terminus elongation of peptides. These results are considered as additional evidence that pathways involving strong activation are required to drive the emergence of living entities rather than close to equilibrium processes.

N‐Carbamoyl Derivatives and Their Nitrosation by Gaseous NOx − A New, Promising Tool in Stepwise Peptide Synthesis

New uses of the N-carbamoyl group in peptide synthesis − as an Nα-protecting group in classical peptide coupling methods, and as a preactivating group for stepwise coupling by NCA formation − are presented. In the first application, the N-carbamoyldipeptide esters C-Val-Gly-OEt, C-Leu-Gly-OEt, C-Ala-Gly-OEt, and C-Ala-Phe-OEt were obtained in good yields by treatment of the corresponding N-carbamoylamino acids (CAA) with amino acid esters. Quantitative N-deprotection without racemisation was then achieved in the solid through nitrosation by gaseous NOx. The extent of racemisation occurring in the coupling step is discussed. In the second application, an easy route to amino acid N-carboxy anhydrides (NCAs) through nitrosation of CAA under the same conditions as above allowed straightforward “one-pot” peptide stepwise coupling, as demonstrated by the formation of Leu-Gly and Val-Gly in good yields and enantiomeric excess. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2002)