The majority of the Chromogenix substrate library has an Arginine (Arg or R) group at the P1 position (the amino acid position that occurs at the preferred cleavage site). Why is this?

The Chromogenix line is geared toward the proteins involved in hemostasis. These are a group of proteolytic enzymes that comprise the serine proteases, which cleave mainly at the C-terminal side of the basic amino acids arginine or lysine. The peptides at the P2, P3, and P4 positions contribute to the substrate’s specificity. Note that the substrates for plasmin cleave at a lysine group. Other protease groups are aspartic proteases (like pepsin), metallo proteases, and cysteine proteases (which include caspases, with an asp cleavage site).