CLEAR: A novel family of highly cross-linked polymeric supports for solid-phase peptide synthesis

Cross-Linked Ethoxylate Acrylate Resin (CLEAR) supports were prepared by radical copolymerization, either in the bulk or suspension mode, of the branched cross-linker trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (14/3 EO/OH) triacrylate (1) with one or more of allylamine (2), 2-aminoethyl methacrylate·HCl (3), poly(ethylene glycol-400) dimethacrylate (4), poly(ethylene glycol) ethyl ether methacrylate (5), and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (6). The resultant highly cross-linked copolymers by the bulk procedures were ground and sieved to particles, whereas the suspension polymerization procedure gave highly cross-linked spherical beaded supports. CLEAR polymeric supports showed excellent swelling properties in an unusually broad range of solvents, including water, alcohols, tetrahydrofuran, dichloromethane, and N,N-dimethylformamide. To demonstrate their usefulness for peptide synthesis, CLEAR supports were derivatized with an 'internal reference' amino acid [norleucine] and a handle [5-(4-Fmoc-aminomethyl-3,5-dimethoxyphenoxy)valeric acid] and were tested for both batchwise and continuous-flow solid-phase syntheses of challenging peptides such as acyl carrier protein (65-74), retro-acyl carrier protein (74-65), and the 17-peptide human gastrin-I. Comparisons to commercially available supports, e.g., polystyrene, Pepsyn K, Polyhipe, PEG-PS, TentaGel, and PEGA were also carried out. CLEAR supports are entirely stable under standard conditions of peptide synthesis but are in some cases labile to certain strong bases.