Synthesis of proteins by native chemical ligation using Fmoc-based chemistry.

C-terminal peptide alpha-thioesters are valuable intermediates in the synthesis/semisynthesis of proteins by native chemical ligation. They are prepared either by solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) or biosynthetically by protein splicing techniques. The present paper reviews the different methods available for the chemical synthesis of peptide alpha-thioesters using Fmoc-based SPPS.