described synthetic process physical data for select exemplified peptides are given in table 1 the acetate salt of example 1 200 mg 0 18 mmole was dissolved in 10 ml of water sodium pamoate 155 mg 0 36 mmole was dissolved in 10 ml of water the two solutions were combined and mixed well the precipitates were collected by centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 20 minutes washed for three times with water and dried by lyophilization compounds of the present invention can be and were tested for activity as ligands of one or more of the melanocortin receptors according to the following procedures one skilled in the art would know that procedures similar to those described herein may be used to assay the binding activities of the compounds of the invention to melanocortin receptor molecules cellular membranes used for the in vitro receptor binding assays were obtained from transgenic cho k1 cells stably expressing hmc r receptor subtypes 1 3 4 or 5 the cho k1 cells expressing the desired hmc r receptor type were sonicated branson u00ae ct usa setting 7 approximately 30 sec in ice cold 50 mm tris hcl at ph 7 4 and then centrifuged at 39 000 g for 10 minutes.