Improvement in the properties of 3-phenyl-3-trifluoromethyldiazirine based photoreactive bis-glucose probes for GLUT4 following substitution on the phenyl ring

We have developed two novel 3-phenyl-3-trifluoromethyldiazirinyl bis-glucose derivatives to investigate the properties of the adipocyte glucose transporter GLUT4. These compounds were substituted by electron-withdrawing (iodo and nitro) groups on the aromatic ring of 3-phenyl-3-trifluoromethyldiazirine photophore and were found to be more photosensitive than compounds without such substituents. The compounds were used as inhibitors of insulin-stimulated glucose transport activity in order to assess half-maximal inhibition or relative affinity values for GLUT4. The affinities were found to be 60-130 times higher than the parent compound D-glucose. Because of the increased photo-reactivity and high affinity these compounds will be useful in studies directed at further elucidation of GLUT4 function.