Search

The prevalence of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of azides and alkynes within both biology and chemistry highlights the utility of these reactions. However, the use of a copper catalyst can be prohibitive to some applications. Consequently, we have optimized a copper-free microwave-assisted reaction to alleviate the necessity for the copper catalyst. A small array of triazoles was prepared to examine the scope of this approach, and the methodology was translated to a protein context through the use of unnatural amino acids to demonstrate one of the first microwave-mediated bioconjugations involving a full length protein., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The incorporation of unnatural amino acids represents a unique mechanism for the modulation of protein function. This approach has been utilized to generate photoswitchable GFP mutants, capable of demonstrating modulated fluorescence upon exposure to UV irradiation. Overall these photosensitive GFP mutants can be employed in various biosensing and diagnostic techniques to better understand protein function and processing., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)