Iron-Cobalt Dual Catalysis for the Synthesis of Alkenyl Amino Acids and Modification of Peptides

Huan-Huan Zhao, Xu-Gang Zhang, Hao-Wen Jiang, Yong-Chun Luo,* and Peng-Fei Xu*

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.5c00888

Abstract

Herein, we report an Fe/Co dual-catalyzed strategy for synthesizing alkenyl unnatural amino acids and peptide modifications. This approach utilizes aspartic acid and glutamic acid derivatives as alkyl radical precursors. It avoids the use of expensive photoredox catalysts and substrate preactivation while preserving the chirality of the amino acids. Furthermore, this strategy enables both modification of peptides and the synthesis of amino-acid-based drug candidates for boron-neutron capture therapy (BNCT).