Patent ID: 8288130

Claim:
A palladium complex-promoted hydrolytic polypeptide cleavage process which selectively cleaves a polypeptide at a Cys-His cleavage site, comprising: solubilizing the polypeptide in a reaction mixture comprised of a palladium complex dissolved in a high-concentration organic acid solvent selected from the group consisting of acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, pyruvic acid, lactic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid, oxalic acid, malic acid, maleic acid, malonic acid, fumaric acid, glutaric acid, adipoc acid, succinic acid, pimelic acid, tricarballylic acid, glucuronic acid, saccharic acid, and dicarboxylic acids, wherein the concentration of the organic solvent in the reaction mixture is from about 1 to about 22 molar, and wherein the cleavage occurs at the carboxamide bond between the histidine residue and the residue immediately adjacent to the histidine on the C-terminal side.