Synthesis of hybrid hydrazino peptides: protected vs unprotected chiral α-hydrazino acids

Peptidomimetics based on hydrazino derivatives of α-amino acids represent an important class of peptidic foldamers with promising biological activities, like protease inhibition and antimicrobial activity. However, the lack of straightforward method for the synthesis of optically pure hydrazino acids and efficient incorporation of hydrazino building blocks into peptide sequence hamper wider exploitation of hydrazino peptidomimetics. Here we described the utility of N(α)-benzyl protected and unprotected hydrazino derivatives of natural α-amino acids in synthesis of peptidomimetics. While incorporation of N(α)-benzyl-hydrazino acids into peptide chain and deprotection of benzyl moiety proceeded with difficulties, unprotected hydrazino acids allowed fast and simple construction of hybrid peptidomimetics. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1288-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.