A “self-deconvoluting” cyclic pentapeptide library, designed to produce 82 944 head-to-tail- linked peptides in 48 vials, has been prepared. The mixture included amino acids found in a recently optimized endothelin antagonist, BQ-123, originally isolated from microbial sources by Banyu investigators. Using a positional scan approach, the most potent of 12 residues at each of the four variable positions uniquely rediscovered the BQ-123 sequence or cyclo (l- ...