Since their first use in bioconjugation more than 50 years ago, maleimides have become privileged chemical partners for the site-selective modification of proteins via thio-Michael addition of biothiols and, to a lesser extent, via Diels-Alder (DA) reactions with biocompatible dienes. Prominent examples include immunotoxins and marketed maleimide-based antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) such as Adcetris, which are used in cancer therapies. Among the key factors in the success of these groups is the availability of several maleimides that can be N-functionalized by fluorophores, affinity tags, spin labels, and pharmacophores, as well as their unique reactivities in terms of selectivity and kinetics. However, maleimide conjugate reactions have long been considered irreversible, and only recently have systematic studies regarding their reversibility and stability toward hydrolysis been reported. This review provides an overview of the diverse applications for maleimides in bioconjugation, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses, which are being overcome by recent strategies. Finally, the fluorescence quenching ability of maleimides was leveraged for the preparation of fluorogenic probes, which are mainly used for the specific detection of thiol analytes. A summary of the reported structures, their photophysical features, and their relative efficiencies is discussed in the last part of the review.

No abstract

The properties and versatility of protease-responsive “covalent-assembly” fluorescent probes are optimised in an effective and rational manner, through structural diversification of their Michael acceptor moiety.

Fluorescent quinoxalinones with good quantum yields were obtained and used in the preparation of a probe for the detection of H2S.

Copper(i)-catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) to explore the fluorogenic potential of near-infrared (NIR) dihydroxanthene (DHX) triazole dyes.

Maleimide-based Diels–Alder strategies for bioconjugation are compared in terms of dienes accessibility and stability, reactions rates, as well as products isolation and stability.

A novel and practical synthesis of 3-benzoylquinoxalin-2(1H)-ones from benzodiazepin-2-ones in two steps from commercially available starting materials is reported. The reaction was achieved in the presence of N-bromosuccinimide in DMSO which served both as a solvent and an oxidant. Significantly, the yet unknown ketone to alcohol fluorescence turn-on of benzoylquinoxalinones was unveiled through the preparation of a fluorescently labelled cholesterol conjugate.

Fluorogenic detection of reactive (bio)analytes is often achieved with "smart" probes, whose activation mechanism causes the release of aniline-based fluorophores. Indeed, the protection-deprotection of their primary amino is the simplest way to induce dramatic and valuable changes in spectral features of the fluorogenic reporter. In this context, and due to their small size and intrinsic hydrophilicity, we focused on pyronin dyes and related heteroatom analogs (i.e., formal derivatives of 3-imino-3H-xanthen-6-amine and its silicon analog) for their use as optically tunable aniline-based fluorophores. To overcome some severe limitations associated with the use of such fluorogenic scaffolds (i.e., poor aqueous stability and spectral features only in the green-yellow spectral range), the synthesis of novel unsymmetrical derivatives of (Si)-pyronins bearing a single bulky tertiary aniline (i.e., N-methylindoline and julolidine) was explored and presented in this Article. This structural alteration has been found to be beneficial to dramatically lower electrophilicity of the meso-position and to reach attractive fluorescence properties within the far-red spectral region. File list (2) download file view on ChemRxiv Publication-GD4-ChemRxiv-Preprint-31032020.pdf (837.64 KiB) download file view on ChemRxiv Publication-GD04-ChemRxiv-SI-31032020.pdf (6.54 MiB)