The effect of high pressure on peptide formation by the catalysis of carboxypeptidaseY (substitution of ester or peptide by amino acid derivative) or by thermolysin (condensation of N-acylamino acid and amino acid amide) was studied. The carboxypeptidase Y-catalyzed substitution reaction of N-[3-(2-furyl)acryloyl]phenylalanine ethyl ester with glycinamide or phenylalaninamide showed a six-fold higher
Peptideformation from an N-acyl amino acid ester and an amino acid amide using carboxypeptidase Y as a catalyst was shown to be considerably influenced by applying high pressure; at 150 MPa the peptide yield was almost five-fold higher than that at 0.1 MPa when PheNH2 was used as the nucleophile.