Tokyo Chemists Report Filtration-Free Liquid-Phase Peptide Synthesis Using Magnetic Nanoparticles
Researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology described in Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, published online Monday, October 5, 2026, a liquid-phase peptide synthesis method that pulls tagged peptides out of solution with hydrophobic magnetic nanoparticles after each coupling and deprotection step, replacing the slow filtration step of conventional tag-assisted synthesis. Liquid-phase synthesis uses fewer reagents and solvents than the standard solid-phase method. The team made the model peptide leucine-enkephalin in high yield and purity without chromatography; the abstract reports results only for that model peptide.