Synthesis and Spectroscopic Properties of Fluorinated Coumarin Lysine Derivatives

The site-selective incorporation of fluorescent amino acids into proteins has emerged as a valuable alternative to expressible protein reporters. For successful application, a robust and scalable, yet flexible, route to non-natural amino acids is required. This work describes an improved synthesis of coumarin-conjugated lysine derivatives where fluorinated variants are accessed. These analogues can be utilized at low pH and should find application probing biological processes that operate under acidic conditions.