title: Bruce Merrifield and solid-phase peptide synthesis: a historical assessment.
abstract: Bruce Merrifield, trained as a biochemist, had to address three major challenges related to the development and acceptance of solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). The challenges were (1) to reduce the concept of peptide synthesis on a insoluble support to practice, (2) overcome the resistance of synthetic chemists to this novel approach, and (3) establish that a biochemist had the scientific credentials to effect the proposed revolutionary change in chemical synthesis. How these challenges were met is discussed in this article.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, L-282, Livermore, CA 94550, USA. mitchell4@llnl.gov
authors.forename: Alexander R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides