KINETICS OF THE ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS OF SEVERAL N-BENZYLOXYCARBONYLDIPEPTIDE METHYL AND ETHYL ESTERS

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4020(01)87839-X

The reaction rates of the alkaline hydrolysis of synthesized N-protected dipeptide methyl and ethyl esters were studied systematically.From the kinetic data the energies of activation, the pre-exponential factors and the reference values at 40 deg C were calculated.The rate of hydrolysis shows to be strongly dependent on the C-terminal amino acid in the sequence Gly >> Ala/Met/Phe > Leu >> Val/Pro.Surprisingly the N-terminal amino acid also exerts an effect, but in a different sequence.N-Terminal Phe in particular shows a relative accelerating effect.Remarkable is the significantly faster ester hydrolysis of glycine containing dipeptide ethyl esters in ethanol/water compared to the corresponding methyl esters in methanol/water.