Click EB1 – Click Peptides

EB1 is a penetratin analogue that was synthesised to be an endosomolytic cell penetrating peptide (CPP). Certain amino acids in the penetratin sequence were replaced with histidine to encourage formation of an alpha helix upon protonation in the acidic endosomes. As a CPP, EB1 has been shown to form a strong interaction with the phospholipid bilayer during insertion with rapid cellular uptake, there is a moderate amount of cell leakage and no significant cytotoxicity. EB1 is provided here with a N-terminal alkyne attachment. Two of the most regularly encountered functional groups for click chemistry are azides and alkynes, and the azide-alkyne cycloaddition has become the most popular click reaction. The use of click chemistry with alkyne-EB1 allows a wide variety of applications particularly for conjugation, modification and peptide design.