Late-stage lipidation of fully elaborated tryptophan-containing peptides for improved pharmacokinetics

Abstract The late-stage modification of native peptides to alter and/or enhance their properties and functions is attractive but formidably challenging. Peptide lipidation is one of the effective strategies to overcome short half-life and rapid clearance. Herein, we report a late-stage installation of a fatty acid lipid onto fully elaborated peptides, using glucagon as an example, through regio- and chemoselective functionalization of tryptophan with high potency and remarkable in vivo half-life extension.