title: Efficient synthesis of pyrenylalanine.
abstract: An efficient synthesis of L-3-(1'-pyrenyl)alanine (Pya), a highly fluorescent amino acid, is described. The amino acid was obtained by the classical asymmetric hydrogenation of chiral 1-acetyl-3-pyrenemethylidene-6-methyl-piperazine-2,5-dione. In the proposed improved procedure mild conditions of the synthesis were applied and the final product--N-tertbutoxycarbonyl-pyrenylalanine--was obtained in good yield. Pyrenylalanine, due to its interesting photophysical properties, can be applied as a fluorescent probe in numerous biochemical and conformational studies.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szymańska
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wiczk
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lankiewicz
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D011721:Pyrenes / Q000138:chemical synthesis*
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D011721:Pyrenes; C047443:1-pyrenylalanine; D000409:Alanine