Facile Conversion of Cysteine and Alkyl Cysteines to Dehydroalanine on Protein Surfaces: Versatile and Switchable Access to Functionalized Proteins

Bioorthogonal chemistry: fishing for selectivity in a sea of functionality

The study of biomolecules in their native environments is a challenging task because of the vast complexity of cellular systems. Technologies developed in the last few years for the selective modification of biological species in living systems have yielded new insights into cellular processes. Key to these new techniques are bioorthogonal chemical reactions, whose components must react rapidly and selectively with each other under physiological conditions in the presence of the plethora of functionality necessary to sustain life. Herein we describe the bioorthogonal chemical reactions developed to date and how they can be used to study biomolecules.

Sugars and proteins: New strategies in synthetic biology

The development of novel methodology for bond-forming processes that are compatible with biomolecules allows the assembly, alteration, or modification of proteins. Such synthetic proteins allow precise insight and investigation of function in a manner that has the potential for almost unlimited diversity.

Olefin metathesis for chemical biology

Chemical biology relies on effective synthetic chemistry for building molecules to probe and modulate biological function. Olefin metathesis in organic solvents is a valuable addition to this armamentarium, and developments during the previous decade are enabling metathesis in aqueous solvents for the manipulation of biomolecules. Functional group-tolerant ruthenium metathesis catalysts modified with charged moieties or hydrophilic polymers are soluble and active in water, enabling ring-opening metathesis polymerization, cross metathesis, and ring-closing metathesis. Alternatively, conventional hydrophobic ruthenium complexes catalyze a similar array of metathesis reactions in mixtures of water and organic solvents. This strategy has enabled cross metathesis on the surface of a protein. Continuing developments in catalyst design and methodology will popularize the bioorthogonal reactivity of metathesis.

Synthesis of neoglycoconjugates by the desulfurative rearrangement of allylic disulfides

Two series of neoglycosyl donors are prepared on the basis of connection of an allylic disulfide motif to the anomeric center via a simple O-glycosyl linkage or N-glycosyl amide unit. Conjugation of both sets of donors to cysteine in peptides is demonstrated through classical disulfide exchange followed by the phosphine-mediated desulfurative allylic rearrangement resulting in neoglycopeptides characterized by a simple thioether spacer. The conjugation reaction functions in the absence of protecting groups on both the neoglycosyl donor and peptide in aqueous media at room temperature.

Dehydroalanine analog of glutathione: an electrophilic busulfan metabolite that binds to human glutathione S-transferase A1-1

Elimination of hydrogen sulfide from glutathione (GSH) converts a well known cellular nucleophile to an electrophilic species, gamma-glutamyldehydroalanylglycine (EdAG). We have found that a sulfonium metabolite formed from GSH and busulfan undergoes a facile beta-elimination reaction to give EdAG, which is an alpha,beta-unsaturated dehydroalanyl analog of GSH. EdAG was identified as a metabolite of busulfan in a human liver cytosol fraction. EdAG condenses with GSH in a Michael addition reaction to produce a lanthionine thioether [(2-amino-5-[[3-[2-[[4-amino-5-hydroxy-5-oxopentanoyl]amino]-3-(carboxymethylamino)-3-oxopropyl]sulfanyl-1-(carboxymethylamino)-1-oxopropan-2-yl]amino]-5-oxopentanoic acid); GSG], which is a nonreducible analog of glutathione disulfide. EdAG was less cytotoxic than busulfan to C6 rat glioma cells. GSH and EdAG were equally effective in displacing a glutathione S-transferase (GST) isozyme (human GSTA1-1) from a GSH-agarose column. The finding of an electrophilic metabolite of GSH suggests that alteration of cellular GSH concentrations, irreversible nonreducible glutathionylation of proteins, and interference with GST function may contribute to the toxicity of busulfan.