Full Paper
Experimental Section
General chemical experimental details procedures for synthesis of
compounds 5a, b, c, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 17a, 18 and 19, and proto-
cols for rate determination can be found in the Supporting Infor-
mation.
Synthesis of 3-iodo-1,2,4-triazine (9)
Isoamyl nitrite (42 mL, 300 mmol, 14 equiv) was added to a stirred
solution of 3-amino-1,2,4-triazine 5a (2 g, 20 mmol, 1 equiv) in
[30]
diiodomethane (ca. 40 mL).
The turbid orange mixture was
stirred at 558C for 4 h, allowed to cool, filtered at the pump and
concentrated as far as possible in vacuo to leave the product and
residual unreacted diiodomethane (ca. 30 mL). The remaining fil-
trate was applied to a silica column and purified by column chro-
matography eluting with 3:1 hexanes/EtOAc. The resultant orange
solid was dissolved in 1,4-dioxane and lyophilised to give the prod-
Figure 1. Rate of reaction of triazinylalanine methyl ester (TrzAla) 12 (1 mm)
with bicyclononyne (BCN) 19 determined by HPLC measurement of forma-
tion of products 20a and b. Rate data were globally fitted to second-order
uct (1.25 g, 6.04 mmol, 30%) as a flocculent orange solid. R (3:1
F
1
hexanes/EtOAc) 0.29; H NMR (500 MHz, CDCl ): d=9.26 (1H, d,
3
3
3
13
kinetics (rate=k
2
[BCN][TrzAla]) under the assumption of low substrate con-
J
2.1 Hz, H ), 8.38 ppm (1H, d,
J
2.2 Hz, H5); C NMR
HÀH
6
HÀH
sumption during the measured time course.
(
3
2
125 MHz, CDCl ): d=149.20 (C ), 148.37 ppm (C ); n˜
450, 3417 cm (NH2 stretch); MS (ES): m/z calcd for C H IN :
07.9293 [M+H]; found: 207.9366; HPLC (5–95% A): retention
(solid):
3
À1
5
6
max
3
3
3
with other known bioorthogonal reactions, such as the Stau-
dinger ligation. With suitable reaction partners, it has the po-
tential to have comparable rates to the strain-promoted add-
ition of azides to alkynes. Very recently, Kamber et al. have re-
ported a complementary study of the reaction between 1,2,4-
time 1.41 min, 100%.
Synthesis of Fmoc-TrzAla-OMe (9H-fluoren-9-yl)methyl (S)-1-
(methoxycarbonyl)-2-(1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)ethylcarbamate (12)
[
25]
To an oven-dried two-neck flask, zinc dust (1.16 g, 18 mmol,
triazin-6-yl derivatives and strained trans-cyclooctenes. Over
3
equiv) was added; the flask was evacuated, dried with a flame
a range of triazine substrates, they observe reaction rates of
[28]
and purged with nitrogen three times. The flask was allowed to
cool to room temperature, dry DMF (18 mL) and iodine (225 mg,
À2 À1 À1
between 1 and 710
m s —approximately 30-fold higher
than those we have determined. This ratio is similar to the ap-
proximately 15-fold difference in rate observed for the reaction
of tetrazines with bicyclononyne and trans-cyclooctene sub-
0
.89 mmol, 0.15 equiv) were added in quick succession. The solu-
tion became orange, and after two minutes returned to grey. After
15 min, iodoalanine 11 (2.67 g, 5.9 mmol, 1 equiv) was added, fol-
lowed immediately by iodine addition (225 mg, 0.89 mmol, 0.15
equiv), and the mixture was stirred at room temperature. After two
hours, zinc activation was shown to be complete by TLC (2:1 hex-
anes/EtOAc) and 3-iodo-1,2,4-triazine (9; 1.59 g, 7.68 mmol,
[3]
strates by Lang et al. and Kamber et al. observations are
therefore fully consistent with our observed reaction rates.
1
.3 equiv), palladium(II) acetate (33 mg, 0.15 mmol, 0.025 equiv)
and 2-dicyclohexylphosphino-2’,6’-dimethoxybiphenyl (SPhos)
121 mg, 0.30 mmol, 0.05 equiv) were added to the flask in quick
Conclusion
(
We have defined a route to 1,2,4-triazin-3-yl-linked amino acids
compatible with conventional peptide-synthesis strategies
using readily available and inexpensive starting materials as
precursors. The alkyl triazine reacts readily with the strained bi-
cyclononyne dienophile at 378C indicating that it is suitable
for protein-labelling applications. The synthetic strategy adopt-
ed can be readily adapted to generate triazine-linked scaffolds
at a late stage. The amino acid is similar in structure to a range
of tyrosine-based scaffolds that have been genetically incorp-
orated into proteins in response to an amber codon using
succession. The flask was heated to 508C and stirred for five hours,
the reaction was allowed to cool and filtered through a Celite pad,
which was washed several times with CH Cl . The resultant solution
was concentrated in vacuo, and the pale orange solid was purified
by column chromatography on silica gel, eluting initially with 4:1
hexanes/EtOAc and then EtOAc. The combined fractions were con-
centrated in vacuo and lyophilised to give Fmoc-TrzAla-OMe
2
2
2
7
(
+
1.66 g, 4.12 mmol, 69%) as a flocculent, pale orange solid. [a] =
D
1
4.12 (c=0.19, CH Cl ); R (EtOAc) 0.72; H NMR (500 MHz, CDCl ):
2 2 F 3
3
d=9.36 (1H, s, Tz-H ), 8.81 (1H, d, J
m, Fmoc-H ), 7.58 (2H, t,
Fmoc-H ), 7.31 (2H, t,
2.4, Tz-H ), 7.79–7.73 (2H,
5
7.4, Fmoc-H ), 7.43–7.37 (2H, m,
6
HÀH
3
J
4
HÀH 1
7.3, Fmoc-H ), 5.98 (1H, d,
[38,39]
3
3
evolved tyrosyl-tRNA synthetases.
We hypothesise that
J
J
8.5,
HÀH
3
HÀH
2
that it will be possible to identify such systems as has been re-
cently demonstrated for triazinylphenylalanine by Kamber
NH), 5.07–4.96 (1H, m, H
a
), 4.45–4.35 (2H, m, CHCH
2
), 4.21 (1H, t,
3
13
J
6.97, CHCH ), 3.79–3.72 ppm (5H, m, H and OCH ); C NMR
HÀH
2
b
3
[
25]
(125 MHz, CDCl ): d=171.7 (CO
3
2
Me) 166.4 (Tz-C ), 155.8 (OCO.NH),
3
et al. But because strategies to incorporate bicyclononyne-
1
1
6
51.9 (Tz-C5/6), 147.4 (Tz-C5/6), 143.7 (Fmoc-C5/6), 140.7 (Fmoc-C5/6
)
[
40]
containing amino acids into proteins are already established,
27.8 (Fmoc-C ), 127.1 (Fmoc-C ), 125.2 (Fmoc-C ), 120.0 (Fmoc-C ),
3
2
1
4
this is not a limiting factor for application to site-specific label-
ling in an in vitro or in vivo context.
7.4 (C ), 67.1 (CHCH ), 53.1 (C ), 51.9 (OCH ), 47.0 ppm (CHCH );
b
2
a
3
3
À1
n˜ max (solid): 3049 and 2950 cm (NH stretch), 1715 (CO); MS (ES):
m/z calcd for C H N O : 405.1557 [M+H]; found: 405.1560; HPLC
22
21
4
4
(
5–95% B): retention time 2.93 min, 100%.
Chem. Eur. J. 2015, 21, 14376 – 14381
14379 ꢀ 2015 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim