Organometallic S-arylation Reagents for Rapid PEGylation of Biomolecules

Bioconjug Chem. 2022 Aug 17;33(8):1536-1542. doi: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.2c00280. Epub 2022 Aug 8.

Abstract

Bioconjugation techniques for biomolecule-polymer conjugation are numerous; however, slow kinetics and steric challenges generally necessitate excess reagents or long reaction times. Organometallic transformations are known to circumvent these issues; yet, harsh reaction conditions, incompatibility in aqueous media, and substrate promiscuity often limit their use in a biological context. The work reported herein demonstrates a facile and benign organometallic Au(III) S-arylation approach that enables the synthesis of poly(ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether (mPEG)-protein conjugates with high efficiency. Isolable and bench-stable 2, 5, and 10 kDa mPEG-Au(III) reagents were synthesized via oxidative addition into terminal aryl iodide substituents installed on mPEG substrates with a (Me-DalPhos)Au(I)Cl precursor. Reaction of the isolable mPEG-Au(III) oxidative addition complexes with a cysteine thiol on a biomolecule resulted in facile and selective cysteine arylation chemistry, forging covalent S-aryl linkages and affording the mPEG-biomolecule conjugates. Notably, low polymer reagent loadings were used to achieve near quantitative conversion at room temperature in 1 min due to the rapid kinetics and high chemoselectivity of this Au-based bioconjugation approach. Therefore, this work represents an important addition to the protein-polymer conjugation chemical toolbox.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cysteine* / chemistry
  • Indicators and Reagents
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Polyethylene Glycols* / chemistry
  • Proteins / chemistry

Substances

  • Indicators and Reagents
  • Proteins
  • Polyethylene Glycols
  • Cysteine