Succinimidyl esters of fatty acids for amino acid acylations

Fatty acid N-hydroxysuccinimide esters have been prepared from the thallium(I) salt of N-hydroxysuccinimide and the corresponding acyl chlorides in essentially quantitative yields. These active esters were used for acylation of amino acid esters in organic solvents, or of free amino acids in aqueous medium. The title compounds were found to be selective towards the side chain amino group of lysine. An efficient preparation of ε-N-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine using benzyl succinimidyl carbonate is described.