Over the last 20 years, amide-bond forming ligation reactions have established themselves as an essential tool for the total chemical synthesis of peptides and proteins. This spectacular development is echoed in an abundant literature. 

The selection of books, reviews and papers below is a good start for introducing the main concepts of peptide ligation to those people who want to know more about these reactions.
 

  • Native Chemical Ligation and Extended Methods: Mechanisms, Catalysis, Scope, and Limitations
    Vangelis Agouridas, Ouafâa El Mahdi, Vincent Diemer, Marine Cargoët, Jean-Christophe M. Monbaliu*, and Oleg Melnyk*
    Chem. Rev. 2019, 10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00712

 

  • Rapid and efficient protein synthesis through expansion of the native chemical ligation concept
    Sameer S. Kulkarni, Jessica Sayers, Bhavesh Premdjee & Richard J. Payne
    Nature Reviews Chemistry 2018, 2, 0122
    DOI: 10.1038/s41570-018-0122

 

  • Protein Ligation and Total Synthesis volume I and II
    Liu, L. (Ed.),
    Ed. Springer International Publishing: Switzerland, 2015; Vol. 362-363.
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-19186-7

 

 

  • KAHA LIGATION Chemical Protein Synthesis with the α-Ketoacid–Hydroxylamine Ligation
    Jeffrey W. Bode. Acc. Chem. Res. 2017, 50, 2104–2115.
    DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.7b00277

 

  • STL LIGATION Serine/Threonine Ligation: Origin, Mechanistic Aspects, and Applications
    Han Liu and Xuechen Li. Acc. Chem. Res. 2018, 51, 1643–1655.
    DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00151

 

  • DSL LIGATION Rapid Additive-Free Selenocystine–Selenoester Peptide Ligation
    Nicholas J. Mitchell, Lara R. Malins, Xuyu Liu, Robert E. Thompson, Bun Chan, Leo Radom, and Richard J. Payne. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 14011–14014.
    DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b07237