Choosing the Right Peptide Synthesizer
A peptide synthesizer is a key tool for scientists performing pharmaceutical research.peptide synthesizer From screening hundreds (or even thousands) of compounds to identify potential drug targets, to optimizing structure-activity relationships with focused libraries and advancing them into the clinic, the ability to quickly and efficiently produce peptides is a must. Choosing the best peptide synthesizer for your application can be daunting, but the right instrument will help you to optimize and accelerate your work.

Whether you are using the tea bag protocol, microwave synthesis or Liberty Blue, the key to success is in your preparations. All three methods have their strengths and weaknesses, and it is important to understand how these factors will impact your final product. To achieve the highest yield, it is crucial to minimize additions and side reactions, especially those originating from the N-terminal region of the peptide chain. These residues typically contain a wide range of functional groups that can be activated by many different side chain protecting groups (usually benzyl or tert-butyl). Various cleavage conditions are also required, including enzymatic, acidic, base and a combination of both, and the presence of other chemical treatments like deprotection or N-methylation can have a significant impact on the final product.

To maximize your yield and purity, it is important to verify the quality of your peptides during synthesis. The most effective way to do this is by utilizing a multi-channel instrument with a fluidic system that ensures zero dead volumes and no cross-contamination between reaction steps. This minimizes the effect of additions, deletions and other common side reactions during solid phase synthesis. The multi-channel instruments available from Gyros Protein Technologies, the PurePep Chorus and Symphony X, are ideal for high throughput applications with the flexibility to expand to multiple reaction vessels as your needs grow.

It is also critical to be able to perform a variety of on-resin chemical modifications, such as bioconjugation, carbohydrate attachment and oxidative deprotection. The latest peptide synthesizers can be equipped with tools that allow you to do this in a single automated workflow. This is an exciting development that closes the gap between organic and biological chemistry by democratizing access to advanced synthetic techniques.

In the future, we will see more complex peptides, such as peptide-bismuth bicyclic molecules, be produced in a single automated workflow. These molecules are formed by the interaction of cysteine residues with a trivalent bismuth ion, and offer a host of desirable properties, including conformational rigidity, metabolic stability and antibody-like affinity. To make this possible, the synthesis and on-resin chemical modification of a bicyclic peptide will be a single automated workflow using a peptide synthesizer.

The goal is to have a system that can be used by all researchers in the lab, not just those who are specialized in peptide synthesis. To enable this, the peptide synthesizer should be easy to learn and operate. In addition, it should be able to accommodate all the unique monomers and reagents necessary for a wide range of research applications.