Synthesis and Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Mimosine-Containing Peptides

Non-proteinogenic amino acids are widely explored group of compounds due to their chemical properties and great potential of application in the combinatorial chemistry, medicinal investigation etc. Therefore the synthetic methods of their incorporation to the peptide chain are required. l-Mimosine, (S)-α-amino-β-(3-hydoxy-4-oxo-1,4-dihydropyridin-1-yl)-propanoic acid), is a plant amino acid, known to induce apoptosis in human pancreatic cancer xenografts. Here we present our investigations on the synthesis of mimosine-containing peptide and their ESI-MS/MS analysis. We successfully applied Fmoc-protected mimosine a with a free hydroxy ketone group for efficient peptide synthesis in the presence of HATU as a coupling reagent without the formation of side products. Additionally the tandem mass spectrometry analysis revealed the characteristic loss of the heterocyclic ring from mimosine residue side chain. The described method allows insertion of mimosine residue at any endo-position within a peptide sequence. The obtained results may be useful in the synthesis and mass spectrometry analysis of various mimosine-containing peptides.