Screening of a combinatorial library reveals peptide-based catalysts for phosphorester cleavage in water.

A combinatorial library of 625 octapeptides was screened for their efficiency to catalyze phosphorester cleavage in water. Octapeptides such as 1c, which contains a catalytically active histidine and two cationic residues (Gua) as potential anion-binding sites, show substrate hydrolysis in water. Metal-free catalysis with a rate enhancement of up to a factor of 175 over the uncatalyzed background reaction is observed.