Produced by microorganisms, marine organisms and plants, dehydrotriptophan and its derivatives are amino acids commonly found in peptide-based natural products, thereby prompting their use as a building block for peptide synthesis.
Although literature is available on the synthesis of dehydroamino acids, the focus on dehydrotriptophan has now been addressed by Margaret Brimble and coworkers (the University of Auckland, New Zealand) in this OBC Perspective, which highlights the different methods to synthesise the dehydrotryptophan-containing segment of naturally occurring peptides, amino acids and their derivatives.
Interested? Then why not read this comprehensive review now:
The synthesis of dehydrotryptophan and dehydrotryptophan-containing peptides Harveen Kaur, Amanda M. Heapy and Margaret A. Brimble
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB05777D, Perspective
