SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SWEET PROTEIN BRAZZEIN

The sweet protein brazzein isolated from the fruit of the African plan t, Pentadiplandra brazzeana Baillon is 2000-500 times sweeter than suc rose, and consists of 54 amino acid residues with Sour intramolecular disulfide bonds. Brazzein was prepared by the fluoren-9-yl-methoxycarb onyl solid-phase method, and was identical to natural brazzein by high performance liquid chromatography, mass spectroscopy, peptide mapping , and taste evaluation. The D enantiomer of brazzein was also synthesi zed, and was shown to be the mirror image of brazzein. The D enantiome r (ent-brazzein) was devoid of any sweetness and was essentially taste less. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.