Protection of asparagine and glutamine during N alpha-Bpoc-based solid-phase peptide synthesis

In this paper we describe the synthesis and properties of Bpoc-Asn(Trt)-OH, Bpoc-Asn(Trt)-OPfp, Bpoc-Gln(Trt)-OH and Bpoc-Gln(Trt)-OPfp. These derivatives are highly soluble in CH2Cl2 and can be coupled efficiently in solid-phase peptide synthesis. The peptides, acetyl-Ala-Phe-Asn(Trt)-Gly-Leu-Ala-O-Dbf-SH and Boc-Cys(Acm)-Ala-Phe-Gln(Trt)-Gly-Leu-Ala-O-Dbf-SH (where O-Dbf-SH is the peptide ester of 4-mercapto-6-hydroxydibenzofuran) were synthesized by stepwise solid-phase peptide synthesis using N alpha-Bpoc Amino acids. We have observed that less than 0.1% of the trityl group is removed from the carboxamide of Gln and Asn during a standard 15 min N alpha-Bpoc deprotection in 0.5% TFA in CH2Cl2.