Chemoselective staudinger-phosphite reaction of azides for the phosphorylation of proteins

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.200902118

The title reaction was identified as a chemoselective means to modify azides in peptides and proteins in high yields at room temperature in various solvents including aqueous buffers at physiological pH. In combination with nonnatural protein translation

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.200902118

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200902118
Chemoselective Reactions
Chemoselective Staudinger-Phosphite Reaction of
Azides for the Phosphorylation of Proteins**
Remigiusz Serwa, Ina Wilkening, Giuseppe Del Signore, Michaela Mꢀhlberg,
Iris Claußnitzer, Christoph Weise, Michael Gerrits, and
Christian P. R. Hackenberger*
Dedicated to Professor Hans-Ulrich
Reißig on the occasion of his
60th birthday
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Chemie
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Chemoselective reactions have become important tools in
chemical research as well as in modern life sciences.[1,2,3a] They
are used in the synthesis, for instance, of modified proteins for
biological studies and thereby help in the evaluation of
posttranslational modifications, such as phosphorylation or
glycosylation, in signal transduction and regulation.[3] In
addition, biophysical probes or other functional modules
can be introduced into complex biomolecules, even within a
cellular environment, to visualize biological processes or
specifically alter their functional behavior.[1–3]
5, which reacts with the nucleophilic iminophosphorane
nitrogen (Scheme 1B). This chemoselective modification
strategy has found widespread application in labeling[4,13]
and immobilization[14] of DNA and proteins even within
living animals,[15] although sometimes phosphine oxidation
limits the application of this reaction.[10]
We have now identified another Staudinger-type reaction
for the chemoselective functionalization of azides, that can
occur in high yields under mild conditions in complex
biological molecules (Scheme 1C).[16,17] This reaction consists
of a two-step process, in which the formation of phosphor-
imidate 7 from phosphite 6 and azide 1 is followed by
hydrolysis to give phosphoramidate 8. Although this reaction
is known[18] and has been used previously, for instance, in the
synthesis of DNA oligomers with phosphoramidate linkages
in THF or pyridine,[18b,19] it has to our knowledge not been
considered as a chemoselective reaction for the modification
of peptides or proteins. In addition, Staudinger-phosphite
reactions have not been carried out in pure water or buffers,
which is a requisite for advanced peptide and protein
modifications.
Our first goal was to determine the scope and applicability
of this transformation under mild reaction conditions for
peptide modifications. We observed that the Staudinger
reaction of phenyl azide (1a) with symmetrical phosphites 6
occurs at room temperature in various solvents including
CH2Cl2, dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethylsulfoxide
(DMSO), and even pure water, although some of the starting
materials are not completely soluble (Table 1).[20] Most
For biological applications, a chemoselective reaction
must transform a single chemical functionality within a
complex biomolecule under mild aqueous conditions at
ambient temperature. Furthermore, for full spatial control
of the location of the desired modification unit within the
target biopolymer, reactions are particularly useful, in which
both reaction partners are nonnatural, since they can address
a unique chemical functionality within a complex biopolymer.
Several of such bioorthogonal[4] reactions have been identi-
fied and employed within the last years, which rely on the
introduction of nonnatural functionalities, commonly referred
to as chemical reporters,[2a,4] into biological molecules.[5,6]
Among these chemoselective reactions, azide transforma-
tions are very popular, since various biochemical techniques
exist that deliver azide-containing biopolymers. These meth-
ods include auxotrophic expression and nonnatural protein
translation as well as metabolic and enzymatic processes.[5,6]
Examples for chemoselective azide reactions are the CuI-
catalyzed (“click chemistry”)[7,8] and strain-promoted [3+2]
cycloaddition,[9] both of which employ alkyne substrates for
the reaction with azides by the formation of triazoles.
Although employed frequently, these reactions still have
some disadvantages, in particular the use of toxic CuI
catalysts, which limits in vivo applicability, and the introduc-
tion of large modification units in the linkage between
biopolymers and the functional modules.[10] Another chemo-
selective strategy, the Staudinger ligation,[11] utilizes the
reactivity of the Staudinger reaction. In this reaction azides
1 react with PIII compounds, namely phosphines 2, to give
iminophosphoranes 3 (Scheme 1A). To suppress hydrolysis of
À
importantly, during the hydrolysis no P N cleavage is
observed, as in the analogous reaction with phosphines, but
instead a primary phosphoramidate 8 is formed under
ambient temperatures in yields of 80–90% (Table 1,
entries 1–5). It is important to note that the hydrolysis also
proceeds under biphasic conditions in nonpolar solvents;
however, longer reaction times may be required.
Next, we applied the Staudinger-phosphite reaction to the
chemoselective modification of azide-containing peptides
with readily available phosphites. These model peptides
contained several functional groups present in proteins in
addition to a commercially available azido-Phe unit; they
were synthesized by solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS).
The resin-bound peptides were cleaved from the support by
treatment with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), and the unpro-
tected phenylazidopeptides 1b and 1c were purified by
HPLC. Peptides 1b and 1c were treated with tributyl- and
triethylphosphite, respectively. The Staudinger-phosphite
reaction proceeded in DMSO with only minimal amounts of
[12]
=
the P N bond to give amine 4,
Bertozzi et al. have
positioned an intramolecular electrophilic trap on phosphine
[*] Dr. R. Serwa, I. Wilkening, Dr. G. Del Signore, M. Mꢀhlberg,
Dr. C. Weise, Dr. C. P. R. Hackenberger
Institut fꢀr Chemie und Biochemie, Freie Universitꢁt Berlin
Takustrasse 3, 14195 Berlin (Germany)
Fax: (+49)30-838-52551
E-mail: hackenbe@chemie.fu-berlin.de
À
aniline peptides originating from P N bond cleavage and
along with rearranged products.[16] After full azide conver-
sion, peptides 8c and 8d were purified by HPLC and isolated
in good overall yields (Table 1, entries 6 and 7).[21] Remark-
ably, the peptide containing a Cys residue was modified only
at the azide function.
I. Claußnitzer, Dr. M. Gerrits
RiNA GmbH
Takustrasse 3, 14195 Berlin (Germany)
[**] We acknowledge financial support from the German Science
Foundation (DFG) within the Emmy-Noether program (HA 4468/2-
1), the SFB 765, and the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (FCI). We
thank Dr. Dirk Schwarzer, Dr. Verena Bꢂhrsch, Denise Homann,
Silvia Muth, Benjamin Horstmann, and Wiebke Ahlbrecht for
experimental contributions and helpful discussions.
We then turned our attention to a potentially biologically
relevant functional group that can be introduced into proteins
by the chemoselective reaction itself. Charged phosphorami-
dates 11 closely resemble the biologically very relevant
phosphorylated tyrosine residues in 12, and may hence
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.200902118.
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Scheme 1. A) Staudinger reaction of azides with phosphines followed by the hydrolysis of the resulting iminophosphoranes to give amines
(Staudinger reduction). B) Staudinger ligation. C) Staudinger-phosphite reaction followed by hydrolysis of the resulting phosphorimidates to give
phosphoramidates.
Table 1: Formation of phosphoramidates 8 by a Staudinger-phosphite
reaction and hydrolysis.[a]
Entry Azide Phosphite, R2
Solvent Product Yield
[%]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1a
1a
1a
1a
1a
1b
1c
6a, Me
6a, Me
6a, Me
6b, Et
6b, Et
6c, nBu
6b, Et
CH2Cl2
DMF
H2O
CH2Cl2
H2O
8a
8a
8a
8b
8b
84
88
78
90
80
63
39
DMSO 8c
DMSO 8d
Tris
8
1b
buffer
8e
50
pH 8.2
[a] Reagents and conditions: 1. Phosphite 6 (1–10 equiv), RT, 6–24 h;
2. H2O, RT, 0–48 h. For further details see the Experimental Section and
the Supporting Information.
Scheme 2. Two-step conversion of azidophenylalanine residues in
proteins into the corresponding phosphotyrosine analogues. For
further details see the Supporting Information.
serve as phosphate ester mimics, in which the naturally
occurring oxygen substituent is replaced by an NH group
(Scheme 2). Phosphoramidates 11 could be in theory accessed
by mild light-induced saponification of 2-nitrobenzyl esters
10, and the latter can be obtained from the reaction of
phenylazido-containing proteins 9 with symmetrical 2-nitro-
benzylphosphites.
Since tris(2-nitrobenzyl)phosphite, prepared by a known
protocol,[22a] is only poorly soluble in water, we focused on the
synthesis of phosphites with attached ethylene glycol units to
overcome this problem. In the synthesis outlined in Scheme 3
phosphite 6d was prepared in three steps from readily
available alcohol 13[23] via intermediate 14. Although 6d
could be synthesized from 14 and PCl3 or P(NAlk2)3 in one
step, we found that the yields were much higher when
phosphoramidite 15 was isolated from the reaction between
PCl2N(iPr)2 and two equivalents of 14, before addition of a
third equivalent of 14 resulted in the final product. Phosphite
6d with fifteen ethylene glycol units displayed excellent
solubility in water (> 60 mm).
Phosphite 6d was then treated with peptide 1b in aqueous
buffers at pH 7.4–8.2 at room temperature. The reaction
proceeded with almost quantitative conversion to 8e in less
than 8 hours, and aniline hydrolysis products accounted for
less than 7% of the material (Figure 1). Peptide 8e was
isolated by preparative HPLC (Table 1, entry 8) to test its
stability and to probe the rates of light-induced saponifica-
tion. Peptide 8e was stable for at least 72 hours in aqueous
buffers (pH 7.4–8.2) in the absence of light, whereas solutions
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Scheme 3. Preparation of water-soluble phosphite 6d. For details see
the Experimental Section and the Supporting Information.
Figure 2. A) Analysis of reaction mixtures obtained upon incubation of
9 (12.5 mm) in the presence of 6d (5 mm) by +SDS-PAGE (Coomassie
staining). B) SDS-PAGE (Coomassie staining) analysis (lanes 1–3) and
anti-phosphotyrosine antibody recognition (Western blot) assay
(lanes 4–6) performed on the isolated proteins 9’ and 10’, as well as
on the mixture obtained upon irradiation (355 nm) of a solution of 10’
for 90 s.
moiety in 10’ was completely stable in solution for up to
72 hours, since no decay was observed in the protein gel.
To test the behavior of the phosphoramidate as a mimic of
a phosphorylated protein, we saponified the phosphorami-
date ester in 10’ to give 11’ under irradiation with a 355 nm
laser and applied a phosphotyrosine-specific antibody to the
SecB proteins 9’, 10’, and 11’ in a Western blot analysis
(Figure 2B). A strong response to the phosphorylation mimic
in 11’ and no recognition of the azide functionality in 9’ was
evident by luminol-based visualization of the antibody. A
slight interaction was noticed for the phosphoramidate ester
in 10’, which we attribute to an undesired partial photolysis of
the reactive protecting groups. Further studies to investigate
this interaction are currently underway.
In summary we have shown that the Staudinger-phosphite
reaction is suitable for the metal-free, chemoselective trans-
formation of azides in peptides and proteins. This Staudinger
reaction is very easy to perform as it utilizes phosphites, which
can be prepared by standard organic synthesis protocols and
are stable against oxidation upon exposure to air. Chemo-
selective transformations by the Staudinger-phosphite reac-
tion proceed in various solvents and buffers at room temper-
ature, conditions suitable for quantitative modification reac-
tions in proteins. Upon combination with light-sensitive
phosphites, phosphoramidate esters can be hydrolyzed to
yield analogues of phosphorylated Tyr residues in proteins,
which can be recognized by phosphotyrosine-specific anti-
bodies. Current investigations in our laboratory aim to apply
this chemoselective phosphorylation strategy to study biolog-
ically relevant signaling processes.
Figure 1. Formation of phosphoramidate 8e from peptide 1b (50 mm)
and phosphite 6d (5 mm) in buffered solutions at room temperature.
Conversion of 1b into 8e was based on LC-UV analysis. For details see
the Experimental Section and the Supporting Information.
of 8e irradiated with a 355 nm laser for 90 seconds underwent
complete saponification (data not shown).
Next, we determined whether the Staudinger-phosphite
reaction can be employed for site-specific phosphorylation in
proteins, even at nonnatural sites.[22,24] For this purpose we
employed the azido-Phe protein 9, which can be obtained by
nonnatural protein translation using the amber-suppression-
based orthogonal system,[5] as the reaction partner for
phosphite 6d.[25]
As a model protein, the naturally non-phosphorylated
17 kDa protein SecB 9’, which contains a single p-azido-Phe
residue at position 156 in the protein sequence followed by a
C-terminal His tag, was prepared by expression in a cell-free
orthogonal protein translation system (see the Supporting
Information). After purification of His tag, azido-SecB was
reacted with phosphite 6d at pH 8.0. Full conversion of the
azide to phosphoramidate 10’ was observed and verified by
protein electrophoresis; the gel shift of the modified protein
corresponded to the molecular weight of phosphite 6d
(Figure 2A). In addition, the resulting phosphoramidate
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Experimental Section
Synthesis of azido-peptides 1b and 1c: The peptides were synthesized
on an ABI 433A peptide synthesizer using standard amide coupling
conditions (HBTU/HOBt; Fmoc protocol) on a Wang resin with
Fmoc-p-azido-Phe-OH as the last residue. Peptides were cleaved
from the solid support with 95% TFA and purified by semiprepar-
ative HPLC.
General procedure for the Staudinger-phosphite reaction of
azidopeptides 1b and 1c: A solution of the azidopeptide in DMSO or
in a buffer (0.2 mLmgÀ1 peptide) was treated with phosphite 6 (5–
10 equiv), and the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature
for 6–24 h. Without further workup phosphoramidate-peptides 8c–e
were isolated from the respective reaction mixtures by preparative
HPLC followed by lyophilization. For LC-HRMS analysis see the
Supporting Information.
[10] N. J. Agard, J. M. Baskin, J. A. Prescher, A. Lo, C. R. Bertozzi,
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Received: April 20, 2009
Published online: July 27, 2009
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Keywords: azides · chemoselectivity · phosphites ·
.
phosphorylation · Staudinger reaction
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[20] Although the azides reported here did not show any instability,
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[21] In our experience isolated phosphoramidate peptides display
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isolated, and remained stable even after prolonged storage.
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