Nucleophilic substitution results in inversion of configuration at the electrophilic carbon center (S 2) or racemization (S 1). The stereochemistry of the nucleophile is rarely considered, but phosphines, which have a high barrier to pyramidal inversion, attack electrophiles with retention of configuration at P. Surprisingly, cyclization of bifunctional secondary phosphine alkyl tosylates proceeded under mild conditions with inversion of configuration at the nucleophile to yield P-stereogenic syn-phosphiranes. DFT studies suggested that the novel stereochemistry results from acid-promoted tosylate dissociation to yield an intermediate phosphenium-bridged cation, which undergoes syn-selective cyclization.
Two series of new, water-soluble, membrane-permeable, far-red/NIR emitting benzothiazolium-based fluorescent labels with large Stokes' shifts were synthesized that can be conjugated to alkyne-modified biomolecules through their azide moiety via azide-alkyne cycloaddition. We have used these azide bearing labels to make fluorescent DNA constructs using copper-catalyzed "click" reaction. All dyes showed good or remarkable fluorescence intensity enhancement upon conjugation to DNA. We also investigated the possibility to incorporate the benzocyclooctyne motif through rigid (ethnynyl) or flexible (ethyl) linkers into the DNA, thus enabling copper-free labeling schemes. We observed that there is a marked difference between the two linkers applied in terms of optical properties of the labeled oligonucleotides. We have also tested the in vivo labeling potential of these newly synthesized dyes on HeLa cells previously transfected with cyclooctynylated DNA. Confocal fluorescent images showed that the dyes are all able to cross the membrane and suitable for background-fluorescence free fluorescent tagging of nucleic acids. Moreover, we have observed different accumulation of the two dye series in the endosomal particles, or in the nuclei, respectively.
Nucleophilic substitution results in inversion of configuration at the electrophilic carbon center (SN2) or racemization (SN1). The stereochemistry of the nucleophile is rarely considered, but phosphines, which have a high barrier to pyramidal inversion, attack electrophiles with retention of configuration at P. Surprisingly, cyclization of bifunctional secondary phosphine alkyl tosylates proceeded under mild conditions with inversion of configuration at the nucleophile to yield P‐stereogenic syn‐phosphiranes. DFT studies suggested that the novel stereochemistry results from acid‐promoted tosylate dissociation to yield an intermediate phosphenium‐bridged cation, which undergoes syn‐selective cyclization.
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