Abstract
The physicochemical and immunochemical properties of fourteen taurine dipeptides (1-14) containing one of eleven neutral L-amino acids or three neutral D-amino acids were examined. These taurine peptides were synthesized by a conventional method using chemical coupling of taurine with an amino acid. Alternatively, the dipeptides (1-9) containing L-amino acid were also synthesized, with a few exceptions (10, 11), by a new method using a general substitution reaction of a sulfo group for chlorine or bromine via the β-halogenoethyl amide of each amino acid. When sodium sulfite or ammonium sulfite was used in the substitution, the new method gave pure taurine dipeptides in good yield without racemization. All the dipeptides (1-14), including naturally occurring Ser-Tau, showed high cross-reactivities with antisera against haptenic taurine or γGlu-Tau.
