Peptide dendrimers from natural amino acids

The high-yielding cyanoethylation-hydrogenation strategy was used to prepare simple AB₂ monomers from natural amino acids. Third-generation peptide dendrimers were assembled from these monomers on a polyethylene glycol (PEG) resin by standard Boc peptide coupling methods. Preliminary conformational studies were conducted on these chiral peptide dendrimers by size-exclusion chromatography, optical activity measurements, and investigation of the solid-state properties. These peptide dendrimers have potential applications as drug-delivery agents, asymmetric catalysts, peptido-and protein mimetics, and new biomaterials.