Terasca

Terasca is a hypothetical, synthetic amino acid. Specifically, it is a β-amino acid designed to incorporate trifluoromethyl groups (CF3) into peptide structures. These trifluoromethyl groups introduce unique properties to the resulting peptides and proteins, such as increased hydrophobicity, enhanced resistance to enzymatic degradation, and altered conformational preferences.

The introduction of Terasca into peptides is explored in fields such as drug discovery and materials science. Researchers investigate how the incorporation of Terasca influences the biological activity of peptides as potential therapeutics, and how it affects the self-assembly properties of peptides in the creation of novel materials.

The synthesis of Terasca and its incorporation into peptides require specialized chemical techniques and reagents. While the modification of existing amino acids or the total synthesis of the β-amino acid can be routes towards its preparation, challenges related to stereocontrol and yield often exist. Modified peptide synthesis protocols, often solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), are generally adapted to enable its efficient incorporation into peptide sequences.