Photoactivation of (p-methoxyphenyl)(trifluoromethyl)diazirine in the presence of phenolic reaction partners

Recent advances in the synthesis of fluorinated amino acids and peptides

The site-selective modification of amino acids, peptides, and proteins has always been an intensive topic in organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, and chemical biology due to the vital role of amino acids in life. Among the developed methods, the site-selective introduction of fluorine functionalities into amino acids and peptides has emerged as a useful approach to change their physicochemical and biological properties. With the increasing demand for life science, the direct fluorination/fluoroalkylation of proteins has also received increasing attention because of the unique properties of fluorine atom(s) that can change the protein structure, increase their lipophilicity, and enable fluorine functionality as a biological tracer or probe for chemical biology studies. In this feature article, we summarized the recent advances in the synthesis of fluorinated amino acids and peptides, wherein two strategies have been discussed. One is based on the fluorinated building blocks to prepare fluorinated amino acids and peptides with diversified structures, including the transformations of fluorinated imines and nickel-catalyzed dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes with bromodifluoroacetate and its derivatives; the other is direct fluorination/fluoroakylation of amino acids, peptides, and proteins, in which the selective transformations of the functional groups on serine, threonine, tyrosine, tryptophan, and cysteine lead to a wide range of fluorinated α-amino acids, peptides, and proteins, featuring synthetic convenience and late-stage modification of biomacromolecules. These two strategies complement each other, wherein transition-metal catalysis and new fluoroalkylating reagents provide powerful tools to selectively access fluorinated amino acids, peptides, and proteins, showing the prospect of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology.

Electronically optimized diazirine-based polymer crosslinkers

Electronically optimized bis-diazirine crosslinkers allow aliphatic polymers to be crosslinked with up to 10-fold improved efficacy, relative to earlier designs. Activation is achieved using modest temperatures or through UV or visible light.

Structure-function relationships in aryl diazirines reveal optimal design features to maximize C-H insertion

Diazirine reagents allow for the ready generation of carbenes upon photochemical, thermal, or electrical stimulation. Because carbenes formed in this way can undergo rapid insertion into any nearby C-H, O-H or N-H bond, molecules that encode diazirine functions have emerged as privileged tools in applications ranging from biological target identification and proteomics through to polymer crosslinking and adhesion. Here we use a combination of experimental and computational methods to complete the first comprehensive survey of diazirine structure-function relationships, with a particular focus on thermal activation methods. We reveal a striking ability to vary the activation energy and activation temperature of aryl diazirines through the rational manipulation of electronic properties. Significantly, we show that electron-rich diazirines have greatly enhanced efficacy toward C-H insertion, under both thermal and photochemical activation conditions. We expect these results to lead to significant improvements in diazirine-based chemical probes and polymer crosslinkers.

Photochemical Cyclopropenation of Alkynes with Diazirines as Carbene Precursors in Continuous Flow

An efficient synthesis of 3-trifluoromethyl-3-aryl-cyclopropenes via the cyclopropenation reaction of alkynes with photolytically generated carbenes from diazirine compounds is described. This reaction is performed in continuous flow using readily available LEDs under mild reaction conditions. This new and efficient method describes the synthesis of 25 examples of 3-trifluoromethyl-3-aryl-cyclopropenes with yields up to 97%, achieved in continuous flow with a 5 min residence time. Control experiments highlighted that diazirines are more efficient than diazo compounds for this transformation.

Rational Design of Azastatin as a Potential ADC Payload with Reduced Bystander Killing

Auristatins are a class of ultrapotent microtubule inhibitors, whose growing clinical popularity in oncology is based upon their use as payloads in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The most widely utilized auristatin, MMAE, has however been shown to cause apoptosis in non-pathological cells proximal to the tumour ("bystander killing"). Herein, we introduce azastatins, a new class of auristatin derivatives encompassing a side chain amine for antibody conjugation. The synthesis of Cbz-azastatin methyl ester, which included the C2-elongation and diastereoselective reduction of two proteinogenic amino acids as key transformations, was accomplished in 22 steps and 0.76 % overall yield. While Cbz-protected azastatin methyl ester (0.13-3.0 nM) inhibited proliferation more potently than MMAE (0.47-6.5 nM), removal of the Cbz-group yielded dramatically increased IC50 -values (9.8-170 nM). We attribute the reduced apparent cytotoxicity of the deprotected azastatin methyl esters to a lack of membrane permeability. These results clearly establish the azastatins as a novel class of cytotoxic payloads ideally suited for use in next-generation ADC development.

Theoretical study of non-Hammett vs. Hammett behaviour in the thermolysis and photolysis of arylchlorodiazirines

Calculations show that the different Hammett behaviour of arylchlorodiazirines is due to different mechanisms in the ground and excited state.

Third generation photo-cross-linked small-molecule affinity matrix: a photoactivatable and photocleavable system enabling quantitative analysis of the photo-cross-linked small molecules and their target purification

The third generation of photoactivatable beads designed to capture bioactive small molecules in a chemo- and site-nonselective manner upon irradiation at 365 nm of UV light and release them as coumarin conjugates after exposure to UV light of 302 nm is described. These photoactivatable and photocleavable beads enable quantification of the amount and distribution of immobilized small molecules prior to the pull-down experiments to identify target protein(s) for the immobilized small molecules. The newly developed system was then used to analyze the functional group compatibility of the photo-cross-linking technology as well as the preferable nature of small molecules to be immobilized. As a result, compounds having a hydroxyl group, carboxylic acid, or aromatic ring were shown to give multiple conjugates, indicating that these compounds are well compatible with the photoactivatable beads system.

Water compatible photoarylation of amino acids and peptides

A novel photoarylation of amino acids and peptides is described, which tolerates the presence of water. Irradiation of Boc-protected amino acids in the presence of N-protected 2-azidobenzimidazoles leads to selective arylation of carboxy termini or side chains. The new reaction also works for peptides. Irradiation of the nonapeptide H-SPSYVYHQF-OH also resulted in selective arylation of the tyrosine side chains, as indicated by ESI-MS/MS fragmentation. Chemo- and regioselectivity could add the title reaction to the repertoire of photoaffinity labeling methods.

Analysis of amyloid nanostructures using photo-cross-linking: in situ comparison of three widely used photo-cross-linkers

Photoinduced cross-linking (PIC) has become a powerful tool in chemical biology for the identification and mapping of stable or transient interactions between biomacromolecules and their (unknown) ligands. However, the value of PIC for in vitro and in vivo structural proteomics can be realized only if cross-linking reports accurately on biomacromolecule secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures with residue-specific resolution. Progress in this area requires rigorous and comparative studies of PIC reagents, but despite widespread use of PIC, these have rarely been performed. The use of PIC to report reliably on noncovalent structure is therefore limited, and its potentials have yet to be fully realized. In the present study, we compared the abilities of three probes, phenyl trifluoromethyldiazirine (TFMD), benzophenone (BP), and phenylazide (PA), to record structural information within a biomolecular complex. For this purpose, we employed a self-assembled amyloid-like peptide nanostructure as a tightly and specifically packed model environment in which to photolyze the reagents. Information about PIC products was gathered using mass spectrometry and ion mobility spectrometry, and the data were interpreted using a mechanism-oriented approach. While all three PIC groups appeared to generate information within the packed peptide environment, the data highlight technical limitations of BP and PA. On the other hand, TFMD displayed accuracy and generated straightforward results. Thus TFMD, with its robust and rapid photochemistry, was shown to be an ideal probe for cross-linking of peptide nanostructures. The implications of our findings for detailed analyses of complex systems, including those that are transiently populated, are discussed.