Carbon-Centered Radicals in Protein Manipulation.

Methods to directly post-translationally modify proteins are perhaps the most straightforward and operationally simple ways to create and study protein post-translational modifications (PTMs). However, precisely altering or constructing the C-C scaffolds pervasive throughout biology is difficult with common two-electron chemical approaches. Recently, there has been a surge of new methods that have utilized single electron/radical chemistry applied to site-specifically "edit" proteins that have started to create this potential-one that in principle could be near free-ranging. This review provides an overview of current methods that install such "edits", including those that generate function and/or PTMs, through radical C-C bond formation (as well as C-X bond formation via C• where illustrative). These exploit selectivity for either native residues, or preinstalled noncanonical protein side-chains with superior radical generating or accepting abilities. Particular focus will be on the radical generation approach (on-protein or off-protein, use of light and photocatalysts), judging the compatibility of conditions with proteins and cells, and novel chemical biology applications afforded by these methods. While there are still many technical hurdles, radical C-C bond formation on proteins is a promising and rapidly growing area in chemical biology with long-term potential for biological editing.

Ultrafast Biomarker Quantification through Reagentless Capacitive Kinetics.

We introduce a facile assessment of binding kinetics at bioreceptive redox-active interfaces as a means of quantifying target proteins. This is achieved by monitoring the redox capacitance (Cr) of a receptor-modified conductive polymer interface under continuous flow. Exemplified with the quantification of C-reactive protein (CRP), capacitance analyses resolve both the association and dissociation regimes in real-time. Significantly, the rate of electrochemical signal change within the association regime is a sensitive function of target concentration, enabling marker assaying down to picomolar levels, comparable to end-point assays, in 15 s. This reagentless proof-of-principle methodology is envisioned to be widely applicable to the facile quantification of a range of other pertinent, clinically relevant targets.

Hydrofluoromethylation of alkenes with fluoroiodomethane and beyond.

A process for the direct hydrofluoromethylation of alkenes is reported for the first time. This straighforward silyl radical-mediated reaction utilises CH2FI as a non-ozone depleting reagent, traditionally used in electrophilic, nucleophilic and carbene-type chemistry, but not as a CH2F radical source. By circumventing the challenges associated with the high reduction potential of CH2FI being closer to CH3I than CF3I, and harnessing instead the favourable bond dissociation energy of the C-I bond, we demonstrate that feedstock electron-deficient alkenes are converted into products resulting from net hydrofluoromethylation with the intervention of (Me3Si)3SiH under blue LED activation. This deceptively simple yet powerful methodology was extended to a range of (halo)methyl radical precursors including ICH2I, ICH2Br, ICH2Cl, and CHBr2F, as well as CH3I itself; this latter reagent therefore enables direct hydromethylation. This versatile chemistry was applied to 18F-, 13C-, and D-labelled reagents as well as complex biologically relevant alkenes, providing facile access to more than fifty products for applications in medicinal chemistry and positron emission tomography.