Chemical approaches to discover the full potential of peptide nucleic acids in biomedical applications

• Nikita Brodyagin,
• Martins Katkevics,
• Venubabu Kotikam,
• Christopher A. Ryan and
• Eriks Rozners

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1641–1688, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.116

• /bjoc.17.116 Abstract Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is arguably one of the most successful DNA mimics, despite a most dramatic departure from the native structure of DNA. The present review summarizes 30 years of research on PNA’s chemistry, optimization of structure and function, applications as probes

• binding is highly sequence specific as one Watson–Crick base pair mismatch can drop the melting temperature of the complex with PNA by 8–20 °C making PNA an excellent nucleic acid analogue for development of probes and diagnostics. This strong and selective binding has made PNA a key component of assays

• uracil with fluorine or trifluoromethyl improved PNA binding affinity for complementary DNA and RNA [127]. Moreover, fluorination increased the cellular uptake of PNAs [127]. Fluorinated uracil derivatives are also useful probes for studying different binding modes of PNA using 19F NMR [128]. PNA

Double-headed nucleosides: Synthesis and applications

• Vineet Verma,
• Jyotirmoy Maity,
• Vipin K. Maikhuri,
• Ritika Sharma,
• Himal K. Ganguly and
• Ashok K. Prasad

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1392–1439, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.98

• was hybridized with a DNA target. The double-headed nucleoside 41 has potential in DNA invader probes as well as in RNA targeting and detection [23]. 1,3-Furanosyl double-headed nucleosides In this section, all double-headed nucleosides with furanosyl ring structures are collected. The first

Design, synthesis and photophysical properties of novel star-shaped truxene-based heterocycles utilizing ring-closing metathesis, Clauson–Kaas, Van Leusen and Ullmann-type reactions as key tools

• Shakeel Alvi and
• Rashid Ali

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1374–1384, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.96

• applications ranging from organic thin‐film transistors (OTFTs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), fluorescent probes, organic photovoltaics (OPVs) to the high hole mobility semiconductors, blue light-emitting materials, nonlinear optical materials and so forth [5][6][7

Photoinduced post-modification of graphitic carbon nitride-embedded hydrogels: synthesis of 'hydrophobic hydrogels' and pore substructuring

• Cansu Esen and
• Baris Kumru

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1323–1334, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.92

• –fluorescein isothiocyanate and fluorescein isothiocyanate–dextran fluorescent probes were subjected to HGCM and HGCM-vTA samples with a comparatively shorter releasing experiment than the one performed for RhB dye (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S4a). The static experiment principally relies on

Beyond ribose and phosphate: Selected nucleic acid modifications for structure–function investigations and therapeutic applications

• Christopher Liczner,
• Kieran Duke,
• Gabrielle Juneau,
• Martin Egli and
• Christopher J. Wilds

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 908–931, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.76

• nuclease-resistant probes for studying RNA–protein interactions [70]. To better elucidate the structural features of 3'-NP DNA responsible for this enhanced selective binding and stability, the Egli group determined the crystal structure of the fully modified 3'-NP DNA duplex with the sequence 5'-d

Enhanced target cell specificity and uptake of lipid nanoparticles using RNA aptamers and peptides

• Roslyn M. Ray,
• Anders Højgaard Hansen,
• Maria Taskova,
• Bernhard Jandl,
• Jonas Hansen,
• Citra Soemardy,
• Kevin V. Morris and
• Kira Astakhova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 891–907, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.75

• aptamers present an additional potential route for LNP internalization and target cell specificity. In order to assess the ability of aptamers to drive LNP internalization, short complementary Cy5-DNA oligonucleotides specific for each aptamer were used as probes to detect LNP uptake in different cells. In

• , effective transport systems for brain drug delivery are highly warranted. Herein, we find that the LNP platform can be applied as a vehicle to circumvent the BBB and effectively deliver oligonucleotide probes to antigen-expressing cell lines. For HIV-1 there is currently a need for more effective delivery

Synthetic strategies of phosphonodepsipeptides

• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 461–484, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.41

• derivatives 85 were obtained. The phosphonate moiety in these analogues represented an important new lead in the development of folylpolyglutamate synthetase inhibitors (Scheme 14) [29]. γ-Phosphonodepsipeptides were also designed and synthesized as potent inhibitors and active site probes of γ-glutamyl

• the γ-phosphonodepsitripeptide 95 as an inhibitor of γ-gutamyl transpeptidase. Synthesis of phosphonodepsipeptides as inhibitors and probes of γ-glutamyl transpeptidase. Synthesis of phosphonyl depsipeptides 108 via DCC-mediated condensation and oxidation. Synthesis of phosphonodepsipeptides 111 with

Biochemistry of fluoroprolines: the prospect of making fluorine a bioelement

• Vladimir Kubyshkin,
• Rebecca Davis and
• Nediljko Budisa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 439–460, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.40

• containing fluorine have been particularly well characterized for their use as spectroscopic probes, mainly in 19F NMR applications [12][13][14][15]. It is typical that the incorporation of fluorine into certain molecular fragments changes the local polarity as well as the electronic and conformational

¹⁹F NMR as a tool in chemical biology

• Diana Gimenez,
• Aoife Phelan,
• Cormac D. Murphy and
• Steven L. Cobb

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 293–318, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.28

• fluorinated probes and their incorporation into macromolecules, the application of 19F NMR to monitor protein–protein interactions, protein–ligand interactions, physiologically relevant ions and in the structural analysis of proteins and nucleic acids. The continued relevance of the technique to investigate

• biosynthesis and biodegradation of fluorinated organic compounds is also described. Keywords: biotransformation; chemical biology; fluorine; 19F NMR; probes; protein structure; Introduction Although fluorine is abundant in the environment, it is not a nutrient nor is it a feature of biochemistry for most

• that can be used as 19F NMR reporters. Aromatic amino acids have been preferentially used as 19F NMR probes both in binding and in conformational studies owing to their ready availability. However, more recently fluoro-aliphatic, and in particular perfluoro-aliphatic amino acids, have become

The fluorescence of a mercury probe based on osthol

• Guangyan Luo,
• Zhishu Zeng,
• Lin Zhang,
• Zhu Tao and
• Qianjun Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 22–27, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.3

• , and high sensitivity [10][11][12]. In recent years, many fluorescent molecular probes have been reported. Because Hg2+ has a very strong quenching effect on fluorescence, most of the fluorescent molecular Hg2+ probes are of the fluorescence-quenching type and are easily interfered with by other

• quenching processes [13][14][15][16][17]. Fluorescence-enhanced probes have received wide attention because of their enhanced fluorescence signal, which can better exclude the influence of instrument noise and other factors, reduce measurement errors, and thus have a higher sensitivity. Osthol (OST) is a

• performance of fluorescent probes. As shown in Figure 1A, the selectivity of OST to common metal ions is monitored by the fluorescence spectrum (λex = 325 nm). OST exhibits a weak fluorescence intensity at λex = 406 nm. When adding different metal ions (Hg2+, Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+, Al3+, Cd2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, Ni2+, Co2

Molecular basis for protein–protein interactions

• Brandon Charles Seychell and
• Tobias Beck

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1–10, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.1

• ., the protein–protein interface. Limitations of this approach include the possibility of having no protease cleavage regions in the interface region and the size of the probes used [22]. These limitations can be overcome by using HDXMS. Even though HDX dates back to the 1950s [26], advances in data

• protein–ligand interactions and conformational changes within a protein complex. In addition to this, HDXMS has the advantage of using a low concentration of proteins (in the high-nM or low-µM range) and providing higher-resolution data on the solvent accessibility, compared to probes used in protein

Selected peptide-based fluorescent probes for biological applications

• Debabrata Maity

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2971–2982, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.247

• fluorescence techniques have attracted immense interest. Synthetic peptide-based fluorescent probes are advantageous over protein-based sensors, since they are synthetically accessible, more stable, and can be easily modified in a site-specific manner for selective biological applications. Peptide receptors

• organic fluorophore (reporter) with a specific peptide sequence is the common approach for designing peptide-based fluorescent probes [16]. Fluorophores on peptidic arms perform as reporter during the interaction with biomolecules [17][18]. The interaction with biomolecules will alter the fluorescence

• intensities of absorption or emission at two wavelengths minimizes the error from the physical or chemical fluctuations in the sample. Conventional peptide probes based on environment-sensitive fluorophores [20][21][22], fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) pairs [13] and pyrene excimer/monomer [23

Changed reactivity of secondary hydroxy groups in C8-modified adenosine – lessons learned from silylation

• Jennifer Frommer and
• Sabine Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2854–2861, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.234

• . Accordingly, the field has developed to a stage that allows custom-design of RNA probes and tools for specific application. For example, investigations of RNA structures by NMR, EPR, or fluorescence spectroscopy require labeling of the RNA molecules with specific reporter groups [2][4][7][8][9][10]. Likewise

Encrypting messages with artificial bacterial receptors

• Pragati Kishore Prasad,
• Naama Lahav-Mankovski,
• Leila Motiei and
• David Margulies

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2749–2756, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.225

• information protection at the molecular level. Keywords: artificial receptors; cell surface modification; fluorescent probes; molecular cryptography; Introduction In living cells, information is processed and transferred via a series of recognition and signaling events, which normally begin by the binding

• labeled bacteria during cell division (Figure 2B). Another research direction in our group, which also involves the development of unconventional fluorescent probes, is the information protection at the molecular level [4][5][6]. In such studies [4][5][6], the emission patterns generated by the probes are

• security systems that can generate (pseudo) random fluorescence patterns [4][5][6]. Originally, the pattern-generating probes (or ID-probes [24]) were designed to detect multiple different analytes and their combinations [24][25][26]. In a later stage, we showed that the unique emission fingerprints

Selective recognition of ATP by multivalent nano-assemblies of bisimidazolium amphiphiles through “turn-on” fluorescence response

• Rakesh Biswas,
• Surya Ghosh,
• Shubhra Kanti Bhaumik and
• Supratim Banerjee

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2728–2738, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.223

• . One of the challenges in the bio-anion detection is that the sensory probes have to be effective under physiological conditions. The highly polar nature of the aqueous media considerably weakens supramolecular interactions such as H-bonding and electrostatic interactions and as a result, it is in

• general challenging to design high-affinity synthetic probes for anion sensing under such competitive conditions [7]. One of the strategies that has proven to be quite successful in this regard, not only for bio-anions, rather for a variety of several other analytes also, is multivalency [8][9][10][11

Optical detection of di- and triphosphate anions with mixed monolayer-protected gold nanoparticles containing zinc(II)–dipicolylamine complexes

• Lena Reinke,
• Julia Bartl,
• Marcus Koch and
• Stefan Kubik

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2687–2700, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.219

• development of optical probes [1][2][3][4][5][6]. They are accessible in different sizes and shapes, can be stabilized by immobilizing suitable ligands, and can easily be functionalized with ligands containing binding sites that mediate the interaction with the analyte. Different strategies allow analyte

• surface plasmon resonance of the individual AuNPs starts to couple when they approach each other [7][8][9]. Early examples of optical probes working in this way are the nanoparticles introduced by Mirkin et al., containing immobilized oligonucleotides that aggregated in the presence of single-stranded DNA

• with a complementary base sequence [10], the AuNPs with peripheral carboxylate groups introduced by the Hupp group [11] that responded to divalent transition metal ions, or Chen at al.’s crown ether-decorated AuNPs that allowed the sensing of potassium ions [12]. Numerous other such probes have been

Styryl-based new organic chromophores bearing free amino and azomethine groups: synthesis, photophysical, NLO, and thermal properties

• Anka Utama Putra,
• Deniz Çakmaz,
• Nurgül Seferoğlu,
• Alberto Barsella and
• Zeynel Seferoğlu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2282–2296, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.189

• -pull dyes are promising candidate materials for optoelectronic device usages and various NLO applications and could be used for applications as water-soluble fluorescent probes for determination of pH. Experimental Materials, methods, and instrumentation Tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAOH) was

Naphthalene diimide bis-guanidinio-carbonyl-pyrrole as a pH-switchable threading DNA intercalator

• Poulami Jana,
• Filip Šupljika,
• Carsten Schmuck and
• Ivo Piantanida

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2201–2211, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.185

• spectroscopy methods (FDCD, CPL), the sensitivity of response is approaching the classical fluorimetric probes [14]. Our systematic work on aryl-guanidiniocarbonyl-pyrrole (GCP) derivatives characterised the GCP moiety as very useful building block in the design of new small molecules targeting DNA/RNA. The

• recognition of various DNA/RNA sequences could be reversibly changed by adjusting the pH of the solution. The fine structural tuning of such aryl-GCP conjugates allowed us to prepare a wide variety of small molecules with different DNA or RNA sequence selectivity, many of them acting as multipurpose probes

Naphthalene diimide–amino acid conjugates as novel fluorimetric and CD probes for differentiation between ds-DNA and ds-RNA

• Annike Weißenstein,
• Myroslav O. Vysotsky,
• Ivo Piantanida and
• Frank Würthner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2032–2045, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.170

• the type of polynucleotide, thus the studied NDI dyes act as dual fluorimetric/ICD probes for sensing the difference between here used GC-DNA, AT-DNA and AU-RNA. Keywords: amino acid–fluorophore conjugate; circular dichroism; DNA/RNA recognition; fluorescence; intercalation; naphthalene diimide

• ]. That would allow in future research combining of the here studied NDI–AA derivatives with the above mentioned and other pH-sensitive fluorophore–AA, to prepare multicolour spectroscopic probes and eventually also FRET pairs. Also, the two NDI–AA conjugates 3a and 3b have protonatable amino groups at

• stronger quenching for GC-DNA and the weaker for AT(U)-polynucleotides (Figure 5a and b). Because guanine is the most electron-rich nucleobase, this behaviour points at a fluorescence quenching mechanism by charge transfer from the electron-rich purine bases to the electron-poor NDI molecular probes

Polarity effects in 4-fluoro- and 4-(trifluoromethyl)prolines

• Vladimir Kubyshkin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1837–1852, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.151

• analogues in complex biological systems such as peptides and proteins, especially in 19F NMR labelling, where fluorinated prolines can serve as spectroscopic probes. Potential areas for the application of fluorinated prolines are numerous, and include the design of molecular recognition systems [101

Et₃N/DMSO-supported one-pot synthesis of highly fluorescent β-carboline-linked benzothiophenones via sulfur insertion and estimation of the photophysical properties

• Dharmender Singh,
• Vipin Kumar and
• Virender Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1740–1753, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.146

• abecarnil, tadalafil, cipargamin, yohimbine, etc. which are used in the treatment of various ailments [14][15]. Apart from their pharmaceutical properties, β-carboline derivatives also found various applications in fields such as organocatalysts, as ligands, and fluorescent probes [16][17][18]. Importantly

• chemosensors, ligands, and fluorescent probes. In order to investigate the fluorescence properties, compound 2bA was chosen as the model substrate for optimization of various parameters like time, concentration, and solvent. In order to obtain the maximum emission, various solvents were screened. The

Nonenzymatic synthesis of anomerically pure, mannosyl-based molecular probes for scramblase identification studies

• Giovanni Picca,
• Markus Probst,
• Simon M. Langenegger,
• Oleg Khorev,
• Peter Bütikofer,
• Anant K. Menon and
• Robert Häner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1732–1739, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.145

• Bern, Switzerland Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Avenue, 10065 New York, United States of America 10.3762/bjoc.16.145 Abstract The chemical synthesis of molecular probes to identify and study membrane proteins involved in the biological pathway of protein

• glycosylation is described. Two short-chain glycolipid analogs that mimic the naturally occurring substrate mannosyl phosphoryl dolichol exhibit either photoreactive and clickable properties or allow the use of a fluorescence readout. Both probes consist of a hydrophilic mannose headgroup that is linked to a

• probes, previous studies relied on a chemoenzymatic approach to selectively incorporate the biologically relevant β-configured ᴅ-mannose headgroup as chemical approaches were deemed to be too challenging [10][13]. This method naturally has some limitations regarding the quantity of the obtained compound

The McKenna reaction – avoiding side reactions in phosphonate deprotection

• Katarzyna Justyna,
• Joanna Małolepsza,
• Damian Kusy,
• Waldemar Maniukiewicz and
• Katarzyna M. Błażewska

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1436–1446, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.119

• as phosphorus acids and esters are prevailing in nature [3][4], and the compounds found wide applications as therapeutics [5][6], probes [7] or in materials science [8]. The McKenna reaction involves two steps: In the first step an alkyl ester is transformed into the corresponding trimethylsilyl

Synthesis of new fluorescent molecules having an aggregation-induced emission property derived from 4-fluoroisoxazoles

• Kazuyuki Sato,
• Akira Kawasaki,
• Yukiko Karuo,
• Atsushi Tarui,
• Kentaro Kawai and
• Masaaki Omote

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1411–1417, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.117

• be visualized using fluorescent probes, the use of AIE fluorescent probes is being investigated as a tool for analyzing the causal relationship between prion diseases and prion proteins. The importance of fluorinated heterocyclic derivatives in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries continues

• , fluorescent probes having an isoxazole scaffold are rare and the limited examples that are available also contain other fluorophores such as styryl, anthranyl, or pyrenyl groups in the molecules. We recently reported the synthesis of 3,5-diaryl-4-fluoroisoxazoles 3 that were found to have planar structures

Development of fluorinated benzils and bisbenzils as room-temperature phosphorescent molecules

• Shigeyuki Yamada,
• Takuya Higashida,
• Yizhou Wang,
• Masato Morita,
• Takuya Hosokai,
• Kaveendra Maduwantha,
• Kaveenga Rasika Koswattage and
• Tsutomu Konno

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1154–1162, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.102

• materials. Keywords: alkyne oxidation; benzils; bistolanes; fluorinated compounds; phosphorescence; Introduction The development of organic light-emitting molecules is recognized as one of the most important studies because of the broad application of these compounds as fluorescence probes, bio-imaging