A FACILE SYNTHESIS OF BESTATIN

Bestatin, an immunomodulator useful in cancer treatment with the structure: N-[(2S, 3R)-3-amino-2-hydroxy-4-phenylbutanoyl]-L-leucine, has been synthesized from N-acyl-α-aminoacetophenone. This novel method using readily available reagents and mild conditions can be applied to a large scale production of this useful agent. The overall yield of bestatin was 10.5% from N-acetyl-α-aminoacetophenone and 7.8%. from N-benzoyl-α-aminoacetophenone. Bestatin(1) is an aminopeptidase B inhibitor discovered in a culture filtrate of Streptomyces1-3 ).