Fast conventional Fmoc solid‐phase peptide synthesis with HCTU

1 H ‐Benzotriazolium 1‐[ bis (dimethyl‐amino)methylene]‐5‐chloro‐hexafluorophosphate (1‐),3‐oxide (HCTU) is a nontoxic, nonirritating and noncorrosive coupling reagent. Seven biologically active peptides (GHRP‐6, 65–74 ACP, oxytocin, G‐LHRH, C ‐peptide, hAmylin 1–37 , and β‐amyloid 1–42 ) were synthesized with reaction times reduced to deprotection times of 3 min or less and coupling times of 5 min or less using HCTU as the coupling reagent. Expensive coupling reagents or special techniques were not used. Total peptide synthesis times were dramatically reduced by as much as 42.5 h (1.8 days) without reducing the crude peptide purities. It was shown that HCTU can be used as an affordable, efficient coupling reagent for fast Fmoc solid‐phase peptide synthesis. Copyright © 2007 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.