One Step Synthesis of Inverted Aspartame Type Sweetener, Ac-Phe-Lys, Using Chemically Modified Chymotrypsin

To search for techniques of simplified peptide synthesis, benzyloxycarbonyl chymotrypsin was prepared by a water-soluble acylating reagent and used to make Ac-Phe-Lys, an artificial peptide sweetener, which was selected as a target compound. As a result of using chemically modified chymotrypsin, Lys can be coupled directly with Ac-Phe and Ac-Phe-Lys made virtually in one step. Moreover, the total yield from preparation and purification steps for Ac-Phe-Lys was 13%. The value corresponds to that of the chemical synthesis method. On the contrary, enzymatic synthesis using native chymotrypsin cannot reach the level of the new method. It is expected that the method is more effective for simplified peptide synthesis as compared with other methods, especially on a large scale.