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α-Amino acid N-Carboxy Anhydrides in pharmaceutical innovations: try them to capture new value

2015 Aug 10

Yves Robin, Chemistry Today , 33(4) July-August 2015 - Yves Robin

http://www.teknoscienze.com/articles/chimica-oggi-chemistry-today--alph…

An overview of NCA innovations are shown below in three main points:

  1. The preparation of NCA building blocks from an industrial perspective.
  2. The key role of NCAs in pharmaceutical applications and
  3. The value of NCAs compared with other synthetic strategies of α-Amino acid couplings will be described.

Keywords

α-amino acid N-Carboxy Anhydrides, NCA, Urethane α-Amino acid N-Carboxy Anhydrides, UNCA, Ring Opening Polymerization, ROP, Peptide, Polypeptide, Polyamino acid, Amino acid coupling, Drug delivery, Active pharmaceutical ingredient.

Abstract

α-Amino acid α-Carboxy Anhydrides (NCA) have been discovered over a century ago (1). The first significant development and use of NCAs in the pharmaceutical industry started during the second half of the 20th century while the interest of chemists revealed three major areas for innovation: 1) their preparation 2) their use in ring opening polymerization and copolymerization (ROP) reactions for polyamino acid synthesis and 3) their use in coupling reactions for α-amino acid derivatives or peptide fragment synthesis.