Click with a boronic acid handle: a neighboring group-assisted click reaction that allows ready secondary functionalization

An innovative carbon dots polarity probe based on intramolecular charge-transfer for visual monitoring of the total polar materials in frying oil

The presence of Total Polar Materials (TPM) in edible oils is a crucial indicator for assessing oil quality. It is of paramount importance to develop a rapid and dependable technique for monitoring polarity in frying oil. Sensitive polarity responsive fluorescence carbon dots (F-CDs) were synthesized by using p-phenylenediamine as precursors and 2-formylphenylboronic acid pinacol ester (2-FAPE) as a post-modifier. The construction of the fluorescent probe F-CDs involved a strong intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) mechanism, with 2-FAPE serving as the electron-withdrawing fluorophore and the π-conjugated structure acting as a potent electron-donating group. A strong linear relationship was observed between the emission wavelength and the TPM value of frying oil within a range of 11% to 30%. Notably, the fluorescence color of the probe transitioned from blue to yellow under UV light at 365 nm as the TMP value increased. This study expands the range of sensing applications for CDs in food safety.

Mutual leveraging of proximity effects and click chemistry in chemical biology

Nature has the remarkable ability to realize reactions under physiological conditions that normally would require high temperature and other forcing conditions. In doing so, often proximity effects such as simultaneous binding of two reactants in the same pocket and/or strategic positioning of catalytic functional groups are used as ways to achieve otherwise kinetically challenging reactions. Though true biomimicry is challenging, there have been many beautiful examples of how to leverage proximity effects in realizing reactions that otherwise would not readily happen under near-physiological conditions. Along this line, click chemistry is often used to endow proximity effects, and proximity effects are also used to further leverage the facile and bioorthogonal nature of click chemistry. This review brings otherwise seemingly unrelated topics in chemical biology and drug discovery under one unifying theme of mutual leveraging of proximity effects and click chemistry and aims to critically analyze the biomimicry use of such leveraging effects as powerful approaches in chemical biology and drug discovery. We hope that this review demonstrates the power of employing mutual leveraging proximity effects and click chemistry and inspires the development of new strategies that will address unmet needs in chemistry and biology.

High-fidelity carbon dots polarity probes: revealing the heterogeneity of lipids in oncology

Polarity is an integral microenvironment parameter in biological systems closely associated with a multitude of cellular processes. Abnormal polarity variations accompany the initiation and development of pathophysiological processes. Thus, monitoring the abnormal polarity is of scientific and practical importance. Current state-of-the-art monitoring techniques are primarily based on fluorescence imaging which relies on a single emission intensity and may cause inaccurate detection due to heterogeneous accumulation of the probes. Herein, we report carbon dots (CDs) with ultra-sensitive responses to polarity. The CDs exhibit two linear relationships: one between fluorescence intensity and polarity and the other between polarity and the maximum emission wavelength. The emission spectrum is an intrinsic property of the probes, independent of the excitation intensity or probe concentration. These features enable two-color imaging/quantitation of polarity changes in lipid droplets (LDs) and in the cytoplasm via in situ emission spectroscopy. The probes reveal the polarity heterogeneity in LDs which can be applied to make a distinction between cancer and normal cells, and reveal the polarity homogeneity in cytoplasm.

Design and Development of an HBT-Based Ratiometric Fluorescent Probe to Monitor Stress-Induced Premature Senescence

Stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS) can be induced in tumor cells by reactive oxygen species (ROS) or oncogenes. The antineoplastic drugs cause apoptosis and senescence by damaging the DNA. Although the detection of cellular senescence is important to monitor drug response during anticancer therapy, only a few probes have been studied for imaging SIPS. In this study, we developed 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole (HBT)-based fluorescent probes to determine SIPS by monitoring the oxidative stress and β-galactosidase activity. HBT is a commonly used fluorophore because of its luminescence mechanism via excited-state intramolecular proton transfer, and it has attractive properties, such as a four-level photochemical process and large Stokes shift (151 nm). A novel fluorescent probe, (2-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)phenyl)boronic acid, was prepared for the detection of ROS, including H₂O₂, via the oxidation reaction of arylboronic acids to form the fluorescent phenol, HBT. In addition, to determine the enzymatic activity of β-galactosidase, a 2-(4'-chloro-2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole (CBT)-based enzymatic turn-on probe (CBT-β-Gal) was designed and synthesized. β-Galactosidase catalyzed the hydrolysis of β-galactopyranoside from CBT-β-Gal to release the fluorescent CBT. These probes were capable of ratiometric imaging the accumulation of H₂O₂ and the degree of β-galatosidase activity in contrast to H₂O₂-untreated and H₂O₂-treated HeLa cells. Furthermore, these probes were successfully employed for imaging the increased levels of ROS and β-galactosidase activity in the doxorubicin-treated HeLa cells.

Internal catalysis for dynamic covalent chemistry applications and polymer science

In this review, we provide a concise analysis of internal catalysis as an attractive design principle to combine chemical robustness with reactivity in dynamic covalent chemistry applications and a material context.

Biocompatible conjugation of Tris base to 2-acetyl and 2-formyl phenylboronic acid

We describe the biocompatible conjugation of the Tris base to 2-formyl and 2-acetylphenylboronic acid (abbreviated as 2-FPBA and 2-APBA respectively), which have emerged as a versatile chemotype for fast biocompatible conjugation reactions. Tris base was found to react with 2-FPBA/APBA to give oxazolidinoboronate (OzB) complexes, analogous to the thiazolidinoboronate (TzB) and imidazolidinoboronate (IzB) complex formation that we recently reported. The Tris conjugations proceed well in complex biological media, and in contrast to the TzB/IzB complexes, the Tris conjugates exhibit superior kinetic stability (dissociation over days) as well as chemical stability against oxidation. We demonstrate the utility of such conjugation chemistries via a small molecule-induced peptide cyclization in blood serum.

Observation of the generation of peroxynitrite in mouse liver after acetaminophen overdose with a boronate-based ratiometric fluorescence probe

A ratiometric fluorescent probe, BTPB, for the selective monitoring of hepatic peroxynitrite in situ after acetaminophen overdose has been developed.

Boronic acids as building blocks for the construction of therapeutically useful bioconjugates

This review summarizes boronic acid's contribution to the development of bioconjugates with a particular focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying its role in the construction and function of the bioconjugate, namely as a bioconjugation warhead, as a payload and as part of a bioconjugate linker.

Versatile Bioconjugation Chemistries of ortho-Boronyl Aryl Ketones and Aldehydes

Biocompatible and bioorthogonal conjugation reactions have proven to be powerful tools in biological research and medicine. While the advent of bioorthogonal conjugation chemistries greatly expands our capacity to interrogate specific biomolecules in situ, biocompatible reactions that target endogenous reactive groups have given rise to a number of covalent drugs as well as a battery of powerful research tools. Despite the impressive progress, limitations do exist with the current conjugation chemistries. For example, most known bioorthogonal conjugations suffer from slow reaction rates and imperfect bioorthogonality. On the other hand, covalent drugs often display high toxicity due to off-target labeling and immunogenicity. These limitations demand continued pursuit of conjugation chemistries with optimal characteristics for biological applications. A spate of papers appearing in recent literature report the conjugation chemistries of 2-formyl and 2-acetyl phenylboronic acids (abbreviated as 2-FPBA and 2-APBA, respectively). These simple reactants are found to undergo fast conjugation with various nucleophiles under physiological conditions, showing great promise for biological applications. The versatile reactivity of 2-FPBA and 2-APBA manifests in dynamic conjugation with endogenous nucleophiles as well as conjugation with designer nucleophiles in a bioorthogonal manner. 2-FPBA/APBA conjugates with amines in biomolecules, such as lysine side chains and aminophospholipids, in a highly dynamic manner to give iminoboronates. In contrast to typical imines, iminoboronates enjoy much improved thermodynamic stability, yet are kinetically labile for hydrolysis due to imine activation by the boronic acid. Dynamic conjugations as such present a novel binding mechanism analogous to hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. Implementation of this covalent binding mechanism has yielded reversible covalent probes of prevalent bacterial pathogens. It has also resulted in reversible covalent inhibitors of a therapeutically important protein Mcl-1. Such covalent probes/inhibitors with 2-FPBA/APBA warheads avoid permanent modification of their biological target, potentially able to mitigate off-target labeling and immunogenicity of covalent drugs. The dynamic conjugation of 2-FPBA/APBA has been recently extended to N-terminal cysteines, which can be selectively targeted via formation of a thiazolidino boronate (TzB) complex. The dynamic TzB formation expands the toolbox for site-specific protein labeling and the development of covalent drugs. On the front of bioorthogonal conjugation, 2-FPBA/APBA has been found to conjugate with α-nucleophiles under physiologic conditions with rate constant ( k₂) over 1000 M^-1 s^-1, which overcomes the slow kinetics problems and rekindles the interest of using the conjugation of α-nucleophiles for biological studies. With fast kinetics being a shared feature, this family of conjugation chemistries gives remarkably diverse product structures depending on the choice of nucleophile. Importantly, both dynamic and irreversible conjugations have been developed, which we believe will enable a wide array of applications in biological research. In this Account, we collectively examine this rapidly expanding family of conjugation reactions, seeking to elucidate the unifying principles that would guide further development of novel conjugation reactions, as well as their applications in biology.

Borylated oximes: versatile building blocks for organic synthesis

Herein, we demonstrate the synthesis and functionalization of α-boryl aldoximes from α-boryl aldehydes, with no sign of C-to-N boryl migration. Selective modification of the oxime functionality enables access to a wide range of borylated compounds, such as borylated heterocycles and N-acetoxyamides. By reducing the α-boryl aldoximes, MIDA deprotection yields the corresponding β-boryl hydroxylamines. As part of this study, we also demonstrate the utility of the boryl aldoxime motif in peptide conjugation.

Iminoboronates are efficient intermediates for selective, rapid and reversible N-terminal cysteine functionalisation

We show that formyl benzeno boronic acids (2FBBA) selectively react with N-terminal cysteines to yield a boronated thiazolidine featuring a B-N bond. The reaction exhibits a very rapid constant rate (2.38 ± 0.23 × 102 M-1 s-1) under mild aqueous conditions (pH 7.4, 23 °C) and tolerates different amino acids at the position adjacent to the N-cysteine. DFT calculations highlighted the diastereoselective nature of this ligation reaction and support the involvement of the proximal boronic acid in the activation of the imine functionality and the stabilisation of the boronated thiazolidine through a chelate effect. The 2FBBA reagent allowed the effective functionalisation of model peptides (C-ovalbumin and a laminin fragment) and the boronated thiazolidine construct was shown to be stable over time, though the reaction was reversible in the presence of benzyl hydroxylamine. The reaction proved to be highly chemoselective, and 2FBBA was used to functionalize the N-terminal cysteine of calcitonin in the presence of a potentially competing in-chain thiol group. This exquisite selectivity profile enabled the dual functionalisation of calcitonin and the interactive orthogonal modification of this peptide when 2FBBA was combined with conventional maleimide chemistry. These results highlight the potential of this methodology to construct complex and well-defined bioconjugates.

Fast and selective labeling of N-terminal cysteines at neutral pH via thiazolidino boronate formation

Facile labeling of proteins of interest is highly desirable in proteomic research as well as in the development of protein therapeutics.

Facile labeling of proteins of interest is highly desirable in proteomic research as well as in the development of protein therapeutics. Herein we report a novel method that allows for fast and selective labeling of proteins with an N-terminal cysteine. Although N-terminal cysteines are well known to conjugate with aldehydes to give thiazolidines, the reaction requires acidic conditions and suffers from slow kinetics. We show that benzaldehyde with an ortho-boronic acid substituent readily reacts with N-terminal cysteines at neutral pH, giving rate constants on the order of 10³ M^–1 s^–1. The product features a thiazolidino boronate (TzB) structure and exhibits improved stability due to formation of the B–N dative bond. While stable at neutral pH, the TzB complex dissociates upon mild acidification. These characteristics make the TzB conjugation chemistry potentially useful for the development of drug–protein conjugates that release the small molecule drug in acidic endosomes.