The scope of chemical protein synthesis (CPS) continues to expand, driven primarily by advances in chemical ligation tools (e.g., reversible solubilizing groups and novel ligation chemistries). However, the design of an optimal synthesis route can be an arduous and fickle task due to the large number of theoretically possible, and in many cases problematic, synthetic strategies. In this perspec...

The structure of histargin, an inhibitor of carboxypeptidase B, produced by Streptomyces roseoviridis MF118-A5 strain, has been defined as N-[(S)-1-carboxy-4-guanidinobutyl]-N'-[(S)-1-carboxy-2-(imidazol-4 -yl) ethyl]ethylenediamine, by spectral analysis and chemical synthesis.

Described here are the synthetic details en route to an array of 2-nm-tall anthropomorphic molecules in monomeric, dimeric, and polymeric form. These anthropomorphic figures are called, as a class, NanoPutians. Using tools of chemical synthesis, the ultimate in designed miniaturization can be attained while preparing the most widely recognized structures: those that resemble humans.

We report a facile chemical synthesis of kinked gold nanowires through anisotropic growth along the (111) direction with a high density of twin-plane defects. The resulting kinked gold nanowires exhibited pronounced near-IR absorption and were demonstrated as good SERS substrates.

The aim of nanotechnology is to put specific atomic and molecular species where we want them, when we want them there. Achieving such dynamic and functional control could lead to programmable chemical synthesis and nanoscale systems that are responsive to their environments. Structural DNA nanotechnology offers a powerful route to this goal by combining stable branched DNA motifs with cohesive ...

[reaction: see text] The technique of native chemical ligation enables the total chemical synthesis of proteins. This method is limited, however, by an absolute requirement for a cysteine residue at the ligation juncture. Here, this restriction is overcome with a new chemical ligation method in which a phosphinobenzenethiol is used to link a thioester and azide. The product is an amide with no ...

In studies of some sequence dependent structural factors and stabilizing effects of oligonucleotides the octanucleotide d(pG-A-T-C-T-T-T-T) was of particular interest in view of the presence of an endonuclease cleavage site. Its chemical synthesis is reported as well as the structural effects in CD spectral properties of the octanucleotide and of some related compounds.

Identifying optimal conditions for chemical and material synthesis as well as optimizing the properties of the products is often much easier than simple reasoning would predict. The potential search space is infinite in principle and enormous in practice, yet optimal molecules, materials, and synthesis conditions for many objectives can often be found by performing a reasonable number of distin...