Angewandte
Chemie
heptyl)]fluorene (BNSF) photoremovable group[9] which
displays to date the highest (5 GM) TP uncaging action
cross-section at l = 800 nm. Nevertheless, BNSF-Glu does not
allow for a quantitative release of the neurotransmitter
(60%) because of a competing photodegradation pathway,
and it is sparingly soluble in aqueous media (0.1 mm).
Despite the primary role of GABA in neuronal inhibition,
only a small number of caged GABA systems have been
engineered so far, all with unfavorable photochemical (low
TP uncaging action cross-section) and pharmacological
properties.[10] CDNI is one cage used for TP uncaging of
GABA in intact brain tissue, but it has a modest TP uncaging
cross-section even at a low excitation wavelength (around
0.3 GM at l = 720 nm[4d]). To our knowledge only N-DCAC-
GABA (N-DCAC = 7-(dicarboxymethyl)-aminocoumarin)
has been used for the TP release of GABA at l = 800 nm
on hippocampal neurons in brain slices,[11] but it suffers from
slow GABA release with a long half time of about 4 ms and a
moderate efficiency upon TP excitation (0.37 GM at l =
800 nm[4a]). Therefore the development of efficient TP-
sensitive caged GABA is one of the current challenges in
the field of chemical neuroscience.[2e]
tion of CANBP-GABA (1) and EANBP-GABA (2) enabled
rapid and spatially controlled GABA release in intact brain
slices.
The syntheses of the probes 1 and 2 are summarized in
Scheme 2. The key intermediate 2-(5-bromo-2-nitrophenyl)-
propan-1-ol (3) was prepared in good yield by a modification
of our previously described procedure,[4f] using a vicarious
nucleophilic substitution[12] as the key reaction. Starting from
4-bromonitrobenzene, this latter reaction afforded the tert-
butyl 2-(5-bromo-2-nitrophenyl)acetate intermediate quanti-
tatively, which was then selectively methylated on the
benzylic carbon atom and reduced with DIBAL-H, to
afford 3 in three steps with an overall yield of 64%. The
intermediate 3 was coupled to 4-aminophenylboronic acid
hydrochloride by a Suzuki reaction using microwave activa-
tion,[13] thus leading to the 4-amino-4’-nitrobiphenyl 5, which
could be conveniently bis(alkylated) with a-bromo tert-
butylacetate to lead to the new protected cage 6.
A similar bis(alkylation) of the cage 10 occurred with very
low yields ( ꢀ 5%; data not shown). Accordingly, we
elaborated an alternative synthesis starting from 3. The
nitro-substituted pinacolato borate 8 was synthesized by
We have been developing
new
TP
photoremovable
groups in the 2-(o-nitrophenyl)-
propyl series by applying the
molecular engineering of one-
dimensional
donor–acceptor
nonlinear optical chromophores
for the optimization of the TP
absorption cross-section. Such a
strategy has already led to the
PMNB cage[4f] as an efficient TP
photolabile protecting group for
glutamate, with a TP uncaging
efficiency (du=da.fu) of 3.1 GM
at l = 740 nm.[4f] We report
herein an important develop-
ment related to this biphenyl
donor–acceptor
platform:
replacing the alkoxy donor
group with a functionalized di-
alkylamino moiety leads to new
photoremovable groups with
improved aqueous solubility
(up to 10 mm) and unprece-
dented (up to 11 GM) TP
uncaging cross-sections at l =
800 nm. We present here the
synthesis and photophysical
properties of two new photo-
removable groups for carboxylic
acids: 2-(4’-(bis(carboxymeth-
yl)amino)-4-nitro-[1,1’-
Scheme 2. Synthesis of 1 and 2. a) 1. tert-butylchloroacetate, tBuOK, DMF, 2 h, RT; 2. HCl, 96%.
b) 1. NaH, CH3I, THF, 24 h RT, 83%; 2. DIBAL-H, THF, 3 h, 08C, 80%. c) 4-aminophenylboronic acid
hydrochloride, K2CO3, Bu4NBr, Pd(OAc)2, EtOH/H2O (2:1), microwave 1508C, 10 min, 81%. d) DIEA,
tert-butyl bromoacetate, DMF, 908C, 5 h, 40%. e) 1. N-Boc GABA, DCC, DMAP, CH2Cl2, 19 h, RT; 2. TFA/
CH2Cl2 (4:6), 5 h or 1 min, 94–96%. f) [PdCl2(dppf)], KOAc, bis(pinacolato)diboron, DMSO, 808C, 15 h,
49%. g) I2, 1,4-dioxane/pyridine (1:1), 08C–RT, 2 h, 84%. h) K2CO3, Bu4NBr, Pd(OAc)2, EtOH/H2O (2:1),
microwave 1508C, 10 min, 70%. DCC=N,N’-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, DIBAL-H=diisobutylaluminum
hydride, DIEA=diisopropylethylamine, DMAP=4-dimethylaminopyridine, DMF= N,N’-dimethylform-
amide, DMSO=dimethylsulfoxide, dppf=1,1’-bis(diphenylphosphanyl)ferrocene, TFA=trifluoroacetic
biphenyl]-3-yl)propan-1-ol
(CANBP) and 2-(4’-(bis((2-
methoxyethoxy)ethyl)amino)-4-
nitro-[1,1’-biphenyl]-3-yl)pro-
pan-1-ol (EANBP).TP excita- acid, THF=tetrahydrofuran.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 1840 –1843
ꢀ 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
1841