Modular click chemistry libraries for functional screens using a diazotizing reagent

  • Nature. 2019 Oct;574(7776):86-89. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1589-1.
Genyi Meng  #  1 ,  Taijie Guo  #  1 ,  Tiancheng Ma  #  1 ,  Jiong Zhang  1 ,  Yucheng Shen  1 ,  Karl Barry Sharpless  2 ,  Jiajia Dong  3
Affiliations
  • 1. Key Laboratory of Organofluorine Chemistry, Center for Excellence in Molecular Synthesis, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
  • 2. Key Laboratory of Organofluorine Chemistry, Center for Excellence in Molecular Synthesis, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. [email protected].
  • 3. Key Laboratory of Organofluorine Chemistry, Center for Excellence in Molecular Synthesis, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. [email protected].
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 31578481 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1589-1
Abstract

Click chemistry is a concept in which modular synthesis is used to rapidly find new molecules with desirable properties1. Copper(I)-catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) triazole annulation and sulfur(VI) fluoride exchange (SuFEx) catalysis are widely regarded as click reactions2-4, providing rapid access to their products in yields approaching 100% while being largely orthogonal to Other reactions. However, in the case of CuAAC reactions, the availability of azide reagents is limited owing to their potential toxicity and the risk of explosion involved in their preparation. Here we report another reaction to add to the click reaction family: the formation of azides from primary amines, one of the most abundant functional groups5. The reaction uses just one equivalent of a simple diazotizing species, fluorosulfuryl azide6-11 (FSO2N3), and enables the preparation of over 1,200 azides on 96-well plates in a safe and practical manner. This reliable transformation is a powerful tool for the CuAAC triazole annulation, the most widely used click reaction at present. This method greatly expands the number of accessible azides and 1,2,3-triazoles and, given the ubiquity of the CuAAC reaction, it should find application in organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and Materials science.

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