Multiple peptide synthesis.

Abstract

The synthesis of large numbers of peptides can be very labor intensive and, if a conventional peptide synthesizer is used, only small numbers of peptides can be produced within a reasonable time. The techniques described below can make large numbers of different peptides simultaneously with varying degrees of mechanization, ranging from the wholly manual methods, to those involving complete mechanization of the whole synthesis process. Most of the multiple synthesis methods are primarily intended for small scale production ranging from microgram amounts up to a few tens of milligrams. All of the systems are economical in use of solvents and reagents, enabling cost-effective synthesis. The techniques described can also be used to prepare peptide libraries, containing several millions of peptide sequences, to enable the rapid screening of all possible permutations of amino acids within short peptides. However, it is considered that multiple synthesis methods are not particularly suited where extreme high purity or very long peptides are required.