Biology:Fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl protecting group

From HandWiki
Fmoc1.png

The fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl protecting group (Fmoc) is a base-labile protecting group used in organic synthesis.

Mechanism of Fmoc protection of amine group

Protection & Formation

Fmoc carbamate is frequently used as a protecting group for amines, where the Fmoc group can be introduced by reacting the amine with fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl chloride (Fmoc-Cl), e.g.:[1]

Scheme showing addition of an Fmoc group to an amino acid

The other common method for introducing the Fmoc group is through 9-fluorenylmethylsuccinimidyl carbonate (Fmoc-OSu), which may itself be obtained by the reaction of Fmoc-Cl with the dicyclohexylammonium salt of N-hydroxysuccinimide.[2]

Reacting with 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl azide (itself made by reacting Fmoc-Cl with sodium azide) in sodium bicarbonate and aqueous dioxane is also a method to install Fmoc group.[3]

Because the fluorenyl group is highly fluorescent, certain UV-inactive compounds may be reacted to give the Fmoc derivatives, suitable for analysis by reversed phase HPLC. Analytical uses of Fmoc-Cl that do not use chromatography may be limited by the requirement that excess Fmoc-Cl be removed before an analysis of fluorescence.

Cleavage & Deprotection

The Fmoc group is rapidly removed by base. Piperidine is usually preferred for Fmoc group removal as it forms a stable adduct with the dibenzofulvene byproduct, preventing it from reacting with the substrate.[4][5]

Roles in SPPS

The use of Fmoc as a temporary protecting group for amine at the N-terminus in SPPS is very widespread for Fmoc/tBu approach, because its removal with piperidine solution does not disturb the acid-labile linker between the peptide and the resin.[6] A typical SPPS Fmoc deprotection is performed with a solution of 20% piperidine in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF).[7]

C
13
H
9
–CH
2
–OC(O)NHR + (CH
2
)
5
NH → (CH
2
)
5
NH+
2
+ [C
13
H
8
–CH
2
–OC(O)NHR]
[C
13
H
8
–CH
2
–OC(O)NHR]
→ C
13
H
8
=CH
2
+
OC(O)NHR

OC(O)NHR + (CH
2
)
5
NH+
2
→ HOC(O)NHR + (CH
2
)
5
NH
HOC(O)NHR → CO
2
+ RNH
2
C
13
H
8
=CH
2
+ (CH
2
)
5
NH → C
13
H
9
–CH
2
N(CH
2
)
5

Common deprotection cocktails for Fmoc during SPPS:

  • 20% piperidine in DMF (Fmoc group has an approximate half life of 6 seconds in this solution)[7]
  • 5% piperazine, 1% DBU and 1% formic acid in DMF. This method avoids the use of strictly controlled piperidine.[8] No side product was observed for a peptide with 9 residues synthesized with this method.[9]

References

  1. Yamada, Kazuhiko; Hashizume, Daisuke; Shimizu, Tadashi; Ohki, Shinobu; Yokoyama, Shigeyuki (2008). "A solid-state 17O NMR, X-ray, and quantum chemical study of N-α-Fmoc-protected amino acids". Journal of Molecular Structure 888 (1–3): 187–196. doi:10.1016/j.molstruc.2007.11.059. 
  2. Paquet, A. (1982). "Introduction of 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl, trichloroethoxycarbonyl, and benzyloxycarbonyl amine protecting groups into O-unprotected hydroxyamino acids using succinimidyl carbonates". Canadian Journal of Chemistry 60 (8): 976–980. doi:10.1139/v82-146. 
  3. Carpino, Louis A.; Han, Grace Y. (1972). "9-Fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl amino-protecting group". The Journal of Organic Chemistry 37 (22): 3404–3409. doi:10.1021/jo00795a005. 
  4. Fields, Gregg B. (1995), Pennington, Michael W.; Dunn, Ben M., eds., "Methods for Removing the Fmoc Group" (in en), Peptide Synthesis Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology (Totowa, NJ: Humana Press) 35: pp. 17–27, doi:10.1385/0-89603-273-6:17, ISBN 978-1-59259-522-8, PMID 7894598, https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-273-6:17, retrieved 2021-10-15 
  5. Wellings, Donald A.; Atherton, Eric (1997). "[4] Standard Fmoc protocols". Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis. Methods in Enzymology. 289. pp. 44–67. doi:10.1016/s0076-6879(97)89043-x. ISBN 9780121821906. 
  6. J. Jones, Amino Acid and Peptide Synthesis, 2nd edn., Oxford University Press, 2002
  7. 7.0 7.1 Wuts, P. G. M.; Greene, T.W. (2006). Greene's Protective Groups in Organic Synthesis. NY: J. Wiley. doi:10.1002/0470053488. ISBN 9780470053485. 
  8. Ralhan, Krittika; KrishnaKumar, V. Guru; Gupta, Sharad (8 December 2015). "Piperazine and DBU: a safer alternative for rapid and efficient Fmoc deprotection in solid phase peptide synthesis" (in en). RSC Advances 5 (126): 104417–104425. doi:10.1039/C5RA23441G. ISSN 2046-2069. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5RA23441G. 
  9. Lam, Pak-Lun; Wu, Yue; Wong, Ka-Leung (30 March 2022). "Incorporation of Fmoc-Dab(Mtt)-OH during solid-phase peptide synthesis: a word of caution" (in en). Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 20 (13): 2601–2604. doi:10.1039/D2OB00070A. ISSN 1477-0539. PMID 35258068. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2OB00070A. 

External links