Synthesis of human corticotropinyl-thiolglycine and its specific conjugation to bovine serum albumin.

Human corticotropin containing a thiolglycine residue at the carboxyl terminal (I) was synthesized by the solid-phase method. The citraconyl derivative of peptide I was coupled to either a model tetrapeptide or bovine serum albumin by reaction with silver nitrate/N-hydroxysuccinimide in water. The extent of reaction with bovine serum albumin was determined by radioimmunoassay, and the peptide-protein conjugate was shown to possess 12% of the steroidogenic activity of porcine adrenocorticotropin in isolated rat adrenal cells. Peptide I and its conjugate with the model tetrapeptide were fully active in the same system.