Diphenylalanine is a term that has recently been used to describe the unnatural

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

similar to the two

alanine Alanine (symbol Ala or A), or α-alanine, is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an amine group and a carboxylic acid group, both attached to the central carbon atom which also carries a methyl group side c ...

and

phenylalanine Phenylalanine (symbol Phe or F) is an essential α-amino acid with the formula . It can be viewed as a benzyl group substituted for the methyl group of alanine, or a phenyl group in place of a terminal hydrogen of alanine. This essential amino a ...

. It has been used for the synthesis of pseudopeptide analogues which are capable of inhibiting certain

enzymes Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecule ...

. Individual

enantiomer In chemistry, an enantiomer ( /ɪˈnænti.əmər, ɛ-, -oʊ-/ ''ih-NAN-tee-ə-mər''; from Ancient Greek ἐνάντιος ''(enántios)'' 'opposite', and μέρος ''(méros)'' 'part') – also called optical isomer, antipode, or optical ant ...

s of this compound can be synthesized via

electrophilic amination Electrophilic amination is a chemical process involving the formation of a carbon–nitrogen bond through the reaction of a nucleophilic carbanion with an electrophilic source of nitrogen. Introduction Electrophilic amination reactions can be clas ...

of a

chiral Chirality is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable from ...

oxazolidinone 2-Oxazolidone is a heterocyclic organic compound containing both nitrogen and oxygen in a 5-membered ring. Oxazolidinones Evans auxiliaries Oxazolidinones are a class of compounds containing 2-oxazolidone in the structure. In chemistry, they are ...

derivative of 3,3-diphenylpropanoic acid. A historical use of the term ''diphenylalanine'' refers to the

dipeptide A dipeptide is an organic compound derived from two amino acids. The constituent amino acids can be the same or different. When different, two isomers of the dipeptide are possible, depending on the sequence. Several dipeptides are physiologicall ...

of phenylalanine ().

References

Amino acids {{amine-stub