Some of the most potent ACE-inhibitory peptides described in food have a proline at the end of theirsequence, a characteristic that can cause problems in the synthesis procedures. In this work, westudied two different preparations of peptide Asp-Lys-Ile-His-Pro (DKIHP), which were obtained bytwo different synthetic procedures (Boc and Fmoc). The peptide synthesized by the Boc methodyielded a unique conformer, containing
trans-Pro, and significant ACE-inhibitory activity (IC
50 = 113.18
M). The chromatographic and NMR data of this active conformer are reported. The peptidesynthesized by Fmoc chemistry yielded three conformers, two of them containing
trans-Pro and athird one containing
cis-Pro, and showed a lower activity (IC
50 = 577.92
M). This was attributed tothe presence of conformers with less (or none) activity. We have pointed out the importance ofperforming structural studies on these type of peptides before testing their ACE-inhibitory activity.Keywords: ACE-inhibitory peptides; NMR; structure; proline; synthesis