Introduction of functional groups into peptides via N-alkylation.

An optimized protocol for the mild and selective Fukuyama-Mitsunobu reaction was used for mono- and di- N-alkylation on solid support. Thereby, nonfunctionalized aliphatic and aromatic residues are quickly introduced into transiently protected, primary amines of a linear peptide. N-Alkylation can also be used to implement alkyl chains carrying (protected) functionalities suited for subsequent modification. Applicability of this method is demonstrated by various N-alkylated analogues of a cyclic CXCR4 receptor antagonist originally developed by Fujii et. al.