Evolution of amide bond formation

The presence of carboxamide groups is found in a large array of biologically important compounds. Peptides and proteins play an important role in modern biology. A key step in peptide production is the formation of the peptide bond, which involves amide bond formation. Chemical synthesis of large peptides by intermolecular coupling of smaller peptides using conventional peptide bond-forming techniques did not realize its potential advantages until recently. Using an approach based on highly specific and efficient chemical ligation of two peptide segments, the two subunits were ligated to form a new peptide bond. Native chemical ligation extended the concept by creating a native peptide bond and providing new approaches to protein engineering.