Bioorthogonal

From WikiMD's Food, Medicine & Wellness Encyclopedia

Bioorthogonal chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that allows for the study of molecules and chemical reactions within living systems. The term "bioorthogonal" refers to the ability of certain chemical reactions to occur inside a living organism without interfering with its native biochemical processes. This is achieved by using chemical compounds that are not naturally present in the organism and do not react with its native biochemical components.

History[edit | edit source]

Bioorthogonal chemistry was first proposed by Carolyn Bertozzi in 2003. The concept was developed as a way to study biological systems without disturbing their natural processes. The first bioorthogonal reaction was the Staudinger ligation, which involves the reaction of azides with triarylphosphines to form amides.

Bioorthogonal reactions[edit | edit source]

Bioorthogonal reactions are characterized by their ability to occur in living systems without interfering with native biochemical processes. These reactions typically involve the use of unnatural functional groups that do not react with the natural components of the organism. Some examples of bioorthogonal reactions include the copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), the strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC), and the inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder reaction (IEDDA).

Applications[edit | edit source]

Bioorthogonal chemistry has a wide range of applications in biology and medicine. It can be used to label and track biomolecules in living cells, to study protein-protein interactions, and to develop new therapeutic agents. In addition, bioorthogonal chemistry can be used to create artificial metabolic pathways, which can be used to produce novel biomolecules or to study the function of existing ones.

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

Bioorthogonal Resources
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Contributors: Prab R. Tumpati, MD