Research

Syntheses of molecules and their studies with various spectroscopies are current interest in our laboratories. We are experts in syntheses of peptides modified with several chromophores, fluorophores, metal binders, anti-oxidants, etc. Currently, our aims are syntheses of amyloidogenic peptides and proteins including Abeta1-42 (Sedlák et al. 2013), alpha-synuclein (Niederhafner et al. 2016), and prion protein (Zawada et al. 2013). We are interested in oxidative stress induced modification of proteins such as incorporation of 3-nitro-L-tyrosine (Niederhafner et al. 2016, 2021, Sokolová et al. 2022).

The most important achievements are (i) solution and solid phase syntheses of aryl peptide conjugates which opened a way for syntheses of head-and-tail bis-arylated peptides directly on resin (Šebestík et al. 2004) (ii) Raman optical activity (ROA) spectra and magnetic ROA of various gases (first-ever ROA spectrum reported in the gas phase despite very low concentration of the compound for common ROA measurement (Šebestík and Bouř 2011, Šebestík and Bouř 2014, Šebestík et al. 2016)); and (iii) density functional theory based assignment of UV-Vis and Raman spectra of ferric-deferiprone complex and prediction of an isomer unseen by X-ray (Šebestík et al. 2012). Furthermore, an invited book (Šebestík J., Reiniš M., Ježek J. Biomedical Applications of Peptide-, Glyco- and Glycopeptide Dendrimers, and Analogous Dendrimeric Structures. Wien, Austria: Springer-Verlag 2012) has been published.

Acridine chemistry is also important for us. We have published total synthesis of inubosin B – an acridine alkaloid with neuroregenerative potential (Hamissa et al. 2020) – and its physicochemical properties (Hamissa at al. 2022). In 2017, we have also reviewed the acridine field as the book.