Live Monitoring of Strain-Promoted Azide Alkyne Cycloadditions in Complex Reaction Environments by Inline ATR-IR Spectroscopy

The strain-promoted azide alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) is a powerful tool for forming covalent bonds between molecules even under physiological conditions, and therefore found broad application in fields ranging from biological chemistry and biomedical research to materials sciences. For many applications, knowledge about reaction kinetics of these ligations is of utmost importance. Kinetics are commonly assessed and studied by NMR measurements. However, these experiments are limited in terms of temperature and restricted to deuterated solvents. By using an inline ATR-IR probe we show that the cycloaddition of azides and alkynes can be monitored in aqueous and even complex biological fluids enabling the investigation of reaction kinetics in various solvents and even human blood plasma under controlled conditions in low reaction volumes.     

三氟乙酸酐(TFAA)促进的Stieglitz重排反应制备苯胺

本工作使用简单易得的三氟乙酸酐作为活化试剂,拓展了Stieglitz重排反应的底物适用范围,发展了一种通过C—C键断裂由苯乙基羟胺制备芳基伯胺的方法.该反应条件较为温和且对官能团具有较好的兼容性.机理研究表明,反应经历了活性三氟乙酸酯中间体的原位生成,并通过C—C和N—O键的断裂实现芳基迁移的过程.     

Bioorthogonal Turn-On BODIPY-Peptide Photosensitizers for Tailored Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) leads to cancer remission via the production of cytotoxic species under photosensitizer (PS) irradiation. However, concomitant damage and dark toxicity can both hinder its use. With this in mind, we have implemented a versatile peptide-based platform of bioorthogonally activatable BODIPY-tetrazine PSs. Confocal microscopy and phototoxicity studies demonstrated that the incorporation of the PS, as a bifunctional module, into a peptide enabled spatial and conditional control of singlet oxygen (¹O₂) generation. Comparing subcellular distribution, PS confined in the cytoplasmic membrane achieved the highest toxicities (IC₅₀=0.096±0.003 μm ) after activation and without apparent dark toxicity. Our tunable approach will inspire novel probes towards smart PDT.     

CRISPR-Cas System for RNA Detection and Imaging

The system of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)and CRISPR-associated endonucleases(Cas)have been widely used in gene editing,disease treatment,molecular diagnosis and chromosome imaging.On account of the programmable target recognition of CRISPR-Cas system and the specific targeting function toward RNA of type Ⅵ class Ⅱ Cas proteins,CRISPR-Cas system has been deployed as RNA recognition and detection tools,exhibiting promising application potentials in the field of RNA detection and imaging.In this review,we summarize the latest research progresses as well as development prospects of CRISPR-Cas system in RNA diagnosis and live cell RNA imaging.     

Interaction with plasmid DNA of Hoechst-TACN conjugates

ABSTRACT

A new family of conjugates between the Hoechst minor groove binder and the TACN metal ion ligand connected through hydrophobic alkyl or more hydrophilic oxyethyl linkers of different length has been prepared. The linkers are connected to the convex side of the Hoechst skeleton thus forcing the TACN ligand to exit the minor groove and interact with the phosphate backbone of DNA. The conjugates preserve the binding mode of Hoechst with an affinity influenced by the nature of the linker, the more hydrophobic being the more efficient. Coordination of Cu(II) or Zn(II) poorly affect these parameters. Nevertheless, the Zn(II) complex bearing a C6 linear alkyl linker induced a modest but reproducible acceleration of the hydrolytic cleavage of DNA which can be ascribed to the ability of the conjugate to deliver the hydrolytic subunit close to the DNA phosphodiester bonds.     

A Chemical Probe for Dehydrobutyrine

Bacterial phosphothreonine lyases, or phospholyases, catalyze a unique post‐translational modification that introduces dehydrobutyrine (Dhb) or dehydroalanine (Dha) in place of phosphothreonine or phosphoserine residues, respectively. We report the use of a phospha‐Michael reaction to label proteins and peptides modified with Dha or Dhb. We demonstrate that a nucleophilic phosphine probe is able to modify Dhb‐containing proteins and peptides that were recalcitrant to reaction with thiol or amine nucleophiles under mild aqueous conditions. Furthermore, we used this reaction to detect multiple Dhb‐modified proteins in mammalian cell lysates, including histone H3, a previously unknown target of phospholyases. This method should prove useful for identifying new phospholyase targets, profiling the biomarkers of bacterial infection, and developing enzyme‐mediated strategies for bioorthogonal labeling in living cells.     

Divergent Synthesis of Monosubstituted and Unsymmetrical 3,6‐Disubstituted Tetrazines from Carboxylic Ester Precursors

Since tetrazines are important tools to the field of bioorthogonal chemistry, there is a need for new approaches to synthesize unsymmetrical and 3‐monosubstituted tetrazines. Described here is a general, one‐pot method for converting (3‐methyloxetan‐3‐yl)methyl carboxylic esters into 3‐thiomethyltetrazines. These versatile intermediates were applied to the synthesis of unsymmetrical tetrazines through Pd‐catalyzed cross‐coupling and in the first catalytic thioether reduction to access monosubstituted tetrazines. This method enables the development of new tetrazine compounds possessing a favorable combination of kinetics, small size, and hydrophilicity. It was applied to a broad range of aliphatic and aromatic ester precursors and to the synthesis of heterocycles including BODIPY fluorophores and biotin. In addition, a series of tetrazine probes for monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) were synthesized and the most reactive one was applied to the labeling of endogenous MAGL in live cells.     

Improving the Yield and Rate of Acid-Catalyzed Deconstruction of Lignin by Mechanochemical Activation

Lignin is a potential biomass feedstock from plant material, but it is particularly difficult to economically process. Inspired by recent ball-milling results, state-of-the-art quantum mechanochemistry calculations have been performed to isolate and probe the purely mechanochemical stretching effect alone upon acid-catalyzed deconstruction of lignin. Effects upon cleavage of several exemplary simple ethers are examined first, and with low stretching force they all are predicted to cleave substantially faster, allowing for use of milder acids and lower temperatures. Effects upon an experimentally known lignin fragment model (containing the ubiquitous β-O-4 linkage) are next examined; this first required a mechanism refinement (3-step indirect cleavage, 1-step side reaction) and identification of the rate-limiting step under zero-force (thermal) conditions. Mechanochemical activation using very low stretching forces improves at first only yield, by fully shutting off the ring-closure side reaction. At only somewhat larger forces, in stark contrast, a switch in mechanism is found to occur, from 3-step indirect cleavage to the direct cleavage mechanism of simple ethers, finally strongly enhancing the cleavage rate of lignin. It is concluded that mechanochemical activation of the common β-O-4 link in lignin would improve the rate of its acidolysis via a mechanism switch past a low force threshold. Relevance to ball-milling experiments is discussed.     

Transformations of N-arylpropiolamides to indoline-2,3-diones and acids via C≡C triple bond oxidative cleavage and C(sp^2)–H functionalization

A new palladium-catalyzed oxidative conversion of N-arylpropiolamides and H2O to various indoline-2,3-diones and acids through the C≡C triple bond cleavage and C(sp2)–H functionalization is described,which is promoted by a cooperative action of catalytic CuBr2,2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy(TEMPO)and O2.The method provides a practical tool for transformations of alkynes by means of a C–H functionalization strategy,which enables the formation of one C–C bond and multiple C–O bonds in a single reaction with high substrates compatibility and excellent functional group tolerance.