OPTIMIZATION OF DISULFIDE BOND FORMATION

Disulfides in endogenous peptides and synthetic analogues of linear pe ptides play an important role in the maintenance of conformational sta bility. Chemical synthesis of the disulfide bond can be accomplished b y several methods. Most of the methods require a low concentration of substrates in the oxidation step to avoid dimerization and polymerizat ion, and this can limit the scale of the synthesis. This article revis es the most interesting methods and technical modifications of disulfi de bond formation in the respect of their usefulness in scale up prepa ration. Special attention is given to a ''reverse oxidation'' methodol ogy what has been investigated recently by the authors.