Thiocarbamate-Linked Polysulfonate–Peptide Conjugates As Selective Hepatocyte Growth Factor Receptor Binders

[Image: see text] The capacity of many proteins to interact with natural or synthetic polyanions has been exploited for modulating their biological action. However, the polydispersity of these macromolecular polyanions as well as their poor specificity is a severe limitation to their use as drugs. An emerging trend in this field is the synthesis of homogeneous and well-defined polyanion–peptide conjugates, which act as bivalent ligands, with the peptide part bringing the selectivity of the scaffold. Alternately, this strategy can be used for improving the binding of short peptides to polyanion-binding protein targets. This work describes the design and first synthesis of homogeneous polysulfonate–peptide conjugates using thiocarbamate ligation for binding to the extracellular domain of MET tyrosine kinase receptor for hepatocyte growth factor.