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Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and detailed review coverage of progress in the major areas of chemical research. Written by experts in their specialist fields the series creates a unique service for the active research chemist, supplying regular critical in-depth accounts of progress in particular areas of chemistry.
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A Specialist Periodical Report Amino Acids and Peptides Volume 24 A Review of the Literature Published during 1991 Senior Reporter J.S. Davies, University College of Swansea Reporters G.C. Barrett, Oxford Brookes University C. M. Bladon, Interprobe Chemical Services, Glasgow D.T. Elmore, University of Oxford C.H. Frydrych, Beecham Pharmaceuticals SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY ISBN 0-85 186-224- 1 ISSN 0269-752 1 0The Royal Society of Chemistry, 1993 A II Riglr ts Reser veil No part o f this hook mu!’ be reproduced or transmitted in an? fbrni or bj*anj2 tiieans - graphic, elec tron ic , including pho tocopj*ing,recording, tuping, or inforrimtion storage and retrieval systems - nlithout written perniission ,fi.om the R o ~ * aSociety l of‘Chertiistr*j* Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Cambridge CB4 4WF Printed and bound in England by Athenaeum Press Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne Preface In taking over after Dr John Jones's 10-year tenure as Senior Reporter, the philosophy has been to preserve continuity through reliance on the expertise of authors who have done this series proud over many years. The experience of having to read each author's manuscripts has highlighted again the unstinting efforts of my colleagues in reviewing such a wide 'swath' of papers and moulding them into useful treatises. Sincere thanks, therefore to Graham Barrett, Donald Elmore and Colin Frydrych for agreeing to soldier on, and to Christine Bladon for accepting and fulfilling the challenge of producing her first Chapter in this series. Continuity for the Chapter on metal complexes of amino-acids and peptides had also been planned, but pressure of work on Professors Nolan and Hay necessitated the decision to include their Chapter as a biennial contribution which will now appear next year. The year 1991 saw consolidation rather than any quantum leaps in development in most of the areas reviewed. Quite detailed probing of biological systems with high field nmr is now possible and in the field of molecular recognition involving immunosuppressive agents, it has prompted an eminent practitioner to state that "the fog is slowly lifting on the understanding of immunosuppression". Over the years, within the criteria of purity used for inclusion of peptide syntheses in these Volumes, the size of peptides have continued to increase. But the success of the solid phase approach has seen the burgeoning of techniques which enable "multiple peptide syntheses" to be carried out. 'Biologically-required' sequences are selected from the products of "multiple peptide synthesis". This will inevitably demand editorial consideration soon to ascertain whether our criteria for reviewing these developments will have to be re-defined. The trend towards larger peptides has increased the use of single letter amino acid abbreviations to report the peptide sequences. As a service to all of us who still find the occasional letter designation elusive, a list has been included in the Abbreviations section. The structures of the closely related coupling agents developed as alternatives to the BOP reagent are also included as the trend is to refer to them only by their abbreviations. Finally, sincere thanks to John Jones for his 10-year tenure and to Colin Frydrych who has intimated his wish to make this his last Chapter for the present. John S Davies University of Wales, Swansea Contents Chapter 1 Amino Acids By G. C. Barrrtt 1 Introduction 2 T