The chemical synthesis of proteins

Total chemical synthesis is developing as an important approach to the construction of native proteins and their analogs for the study of the structural basis of biochemical activity. In the past year, a radical departure from conventional synthetic approaches has led to a renaissance in this field. The inherent simplicity of these new modes of protein construction will allow large synthetic proteins (> 200 amino acids in length) to be routinely assembled; this will vastly expand the repertoire of protein molecules accessible to research.