Improved Fmoc Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis of Oxytocin with High Bioactivity

We described here the synthesis of oxytocin by an improved Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) method with a Rink-Amide resin as the solid support, HBTU as the coupling reagent, Fmoc-protected amino acids as the building blocks, and piperazine for Fmoc removal as a substitute for the standard reagent piperidine. Unlike previously reported syntheses, the removal of the S-Acm protecting group of Cys and cyclization forming the disulfide bond were carried out by using iodine on the resin with the fully protected peptide chains. Finally, a crude oxytocin with a purity of 92% was obtained by simultaneous cleavage of the peptide chains from the resin and removal of all side-chain protecting groups with trifluoroacetic acid containing the scavengers (yield 85%). The crude peptide was purified by using preparative RP-HPLC to obtain oxytocin (high purity 99.3%) with a bioactivity of 588 IU/mg, the highest reported so far in the literature. This investigation provides a contribution in efforts for the large-scale synthesis of oxytocin in high purity under mild conditions with iodine for on-resin disulfide bond formation and a substitute for the standard Fmoc-deprotecting reagent piperidine, a controlled substance.