Boron-doped diamond electrodes for the electrochemical oxidation and cleavage of peptides.

Electrochemical oxidation of peptides and proteins is traditionally performed on carbon-based electrodes. Adsorption caused by the affinity of hydrophobic and aromatic amino acids toward these surfaces leads to electrode fouling. We compared the performance of boron-doped diamond (BDD) and glassy carbon (GC) electrodes for the electrochemical oxidation and cleavage of peptides.

Chemical labeling of electrochemically cleaved peptides.

Rationale: Cleavage of peptide bonds C-terminal to tyrosine and tryptophan after electrochemical oxidation may become a complementary approach to chemical and enzymatic cleavage. A chemical labeling approach specifically targeting reactive cleavage products is presented here and constitutes a promising first step towards the development of a new proteomics workflow.

Methods: Hexylamine was used to react with the spirolactone moieties generated after electrochemical oxidation and cleavage of tripeptides.