Increased nucleophile reactivity of amino acid beta-naphthylamides in alpha-chymotrypsin-catalyzed peptide synthesis.

Alpha-chymotrypsin-catalyzed acyl transfer from Boc-L-MetONp, Ac-L-TyrOEt, Bz-L-TyrOMe, Mal-L-PheOMe to the C-protected amino acids (L-AlaNH2, L-LeuNH2, L-ArgOMe and beta-naphthylamides of L-Arg, L-Leu, L-Ala and L-Glu) has been studied. Modification of the carboxylic groups with beta-naphthylamide was shown to increase the reactivity of nucleophiles in these reactions by a factor of more than 100 in comparison with amides and esters of the same amino acids. This effect can be accounted for by the effective formation of the nucleophile-acylenzyme complex due to hydrophobic interactions of the beta-naphthylamide moiety with the corresponding subsite of alpha-chymotrypsin.