Uranyl Photocleavage of Phosphopeptides Yields Truncated C-Terminally Amidated Peptide Products

The uranyl ion (UO₂²⁺ ) binds phosphopeptides with high affinity, and when irradiated with UV-light, it can cleave the peptide backbone. In this study, high-accuracy tandem mass spectrometry and enzymatic assays were used to characterise the photocleavage products resulting from the uranyl photocleavage reaction of a tetraphosphorylated β-casein model peptide. We show that the primary photocleavage products of the uranyl-catalysed reaction are C-terminally amidated. This could be of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry, as efficient peptide amidation reactions are one of the top challenges in green pharmaceutical chemistry.