Synthesis and bioorthogonal coupling chemistry of a novel cyclopentenone-containing unnatural tyrosine analogue

Herein we report the synthesis of a novel amino acid with orthogonal functionality to the natural amino acid side chains. Tyrosine was O-alkylated with a cyclic 5-membered α,β-unsaturated ketone ring (5). We have established that this amino acid analogue can undergo cycloaddition reactions in aqueous media with in situ generated nitrones. Nitrone formation occurred by micellar catalysis can undergo aqueous 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions with the unnatural Tyr. We also performed a linear free energy analysis of the one pot bioconjugation reaction in water using cyclopentenone as a model for the Tyr analogue and seven different aryl nitrones. We found that the Hammett ρ value was −0.94, suggesting that the reaction occurs in a concerted fashion with a slight positive charge buildup in the transition state. The Hammett ρ value also suggests that the bioconjugation reaction is tolerant of different substituents and thus may be useful for introducing novel functionality into peptides and proteins containing the Tyr analogue 5. The aqueous 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions, that use nitrones to trap the O-alkylated Tyr 5, establish a novel strategy for rapid, water compatible bioconjugation reactions.