Scientists unlock a massive new 'color palette' for biomedical research by synthesizing non-natural amino acids

Ozempic has been making headlines for its remarkable success in treating obesity and diabetes. Yet it is just one in a rapidly growing class of drugs called peptide therapeutics that sits between small molecules (like aspirin) and biologics (like antibodies). A UC Santa Barbara research team has developed a technique for efficiently synthesizing non-natural amino acids and applying them to peptide construction. They hope that the methodology, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, will significantly advance peptide research, giving scientists greater access to amino acids beyond the 22 found in nature.