General method for rapid synthesis of multicomponent peptide mixtures

A method is suggested for the synthesis of multicomponent peptide mixtures. The method is a solid phase synthesis modified in order to give a closely equimolar mixture of peptides with predetermined sequences. The main point of modification is that before every coupling cycle the resin is divided into equal parts and each portion is coupled with a different amino acid. Then the portion are mixed and before the next coupling cycle the resin is again distributed into equal portions. The method is illustrated by the synthesis of a mixture of 27 tetrapeptides and that of 180 pentapeptides.