Synthesis and characterisation of α-carboxynitrobenzyl photocaged l-aspartates for applications in time-resolved structural biology.

We report a new synthetic route to a series of α-carboxynitrobenzyl photocaged l-aspartates for application in time-resolved structural biology. The resulting compounds were characterised in terms of UV/Vis absorption properties, aqueous solubility and stability, and photocleavage rates (τ = µs to ms) and quantum yields (φ = 0.05 to 0.14).