Novel chemical tagging method for combinatorial synthesis utilizing Suzuki chemistry and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

We describe a novel chemical tagging strategy for combinatorial solid-phase chemistry. The tags used are para-substituted alkyl phenols, with the first tags attached directly to the chloromethyl polystyrene and subsequent tags attached via Suzuki couplings using either aryl diboronic acids or aryl iodides. The identities of the tags attached to a single bead are discovered by the high-resolution, accurate mass technique of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. The method is exemplified for the coded assembly of a tripeptide.