Abstract: | Recent progress in peptide and glycopeptide chemistry make the preparation of peptide and glycopeptide dendrimers of acceptable purity, with designed structural and immunochemical properties reliable. New methodologies using unprotected peptide building blocks have been developed to further increase possibilities of their design and improve their preparation and separation. Sophisticated design of peptide and glycopeptide dendrimers has led to their use as antigens and immunogens, for serodiagnosis and other biochemical uses including drug delivery. Dendrimers bearing peptide with predetermined secondary structures are useful tools in protein de novo design. This article covers synthesis and applications of multiple antigen peptides (MAPs), multiple antigen glycopeptides (MAGs), multiple antigen peptides based on sequential oligopeptide carriers (MAP‐SOCs), glycodendrimers and template‐assembled synthetic proteins (TASPs). Part I deals with the development of various structural forms of MAPs as well as their application as antigens, immunogens, and for immunodiagnostic and biochemical purposes. Copyright © 1999 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |