Peptide synthesis

Peptides are required for many different aspects of biotechnology. Since DNA sequences are generally functional only in the protein for which they code, the explosion in sequences that are known has led to an increase in the requirement for synthetic peptides. Quite often, the peptide will be haptenized to a protein carrier and then used to raise antibodies that will then recognize the parent protein. In other instances, synthetic peptides with biological activity will be required in high purity for testing in functional assays. The synthesis of peptide analogs that differ from the naturally occurring sequence in key residues are also often in demand. The methods described here are suitable for making peptides up to about 20 residues in length and do not require sophisticated equipment or highly toxic chemicals such as hydrogen fluoride.