Hydroxybenzotriazole
Hydroxybenzotriazole is an organic compound with the formula. It is a derivative of benzotriazole. It is a white crystalline powder, which as a commercial product contains some water. Anhydrous HOBt is explosive. It is mainly used to suppress the racemization and to improve the efficiency of peptide synthesis.
Use in peptide synthesis
Automated peptide synthesis involves the condensation of the amino group of protected amino acids with the activated ester. HOBt is used to produce such activated esters which react with amines at ambient temperature to give amides.HOBt is also used for the synthesis of amides from carboxylic acids aside from amino acids. These substrates may not be convertible to the acyl chlorides.