2-sulfonylpyrimidines: reactivity adjustable agents for cysteine arylation
2-sulfonylpyrimidines: reactivity adjustable agents for cysteine arylation
Protein arylation has attracted much attention for developing new classes of bioconjugates with improved properties. Here, we have systematically evaluated 2-sulfonylpyrimidines as covalent warheads for the mild, chemoselective and metal free cysteine S-arylation. 2-sulfonylpyrimidines react rapidly with cysteine, resulting in stable S-heteroarylated adducts at neutral pH. Fine tuning the heterocyclic core and exocyclic leaving group allowed predictable SNAr reactivity with model tripeptide glutathione in vitro, covering 9 orders of magnitude. We achieved extremely fast chemo- and regio- specific arylation of a mutant p53 protein, and confirmed arylation sites by protein X-ray crystallography. Hence, we report the first example of a protein site specifically S-arylated with iodo-aromatic motifs. Overall, this study provides the most comprehensive structure-reactivity relationship to date on heteroaryl sulfones, and highlights 2-sulfonylpyrimidine as a synthetically tractable and protein compatible covalent motif for targeting reactive cysteines, expanding the arsenal of tunable warheads for modern covalent ligand discovery.
Pichon, Maeva
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Drelinkiewicz, Dawid
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Lozano, David
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Moraru, Ruxandra
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Hayward, Laura
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Jones, Megan
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Mccoy, Michael
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Allstrum-Graves, Samuel
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Balourdas, Dimitrios-Ilias
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Joerger, Andreas
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Whitby, Richard W.
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Goldup, Stephen
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Wells, Neil
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Langley, Graham
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Herniman, Julie M.
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Baud, Matthias
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13 February 2023
Pichon, Maeva
84bb0e1a-a659-4e77-9dbd-6b61d2fa2a31
Drelinkiewicz, Dawid
fee337f9-b562-4542-a9f2-6a5c583ebc7d
Lozano, David
fa6293ac-336a-4e4c-9e60-0cbeeec32a8e
Moraru, Ruxandra
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Hayward, Laura
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Jones, Megan
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Mccoy, Michael
151681b5-f1e3-4ace-83ae-adc2755f9af9
Allstrum-Graves, Samuel
ac7ad7e8-ef98-4711-b0ab-a25993607ec5
Balourdas, Dimitrios-Ilias
b707bb64-fd49-4318-bc97-3de45c1e9017
Joerger, Andreas
69e42747-d541-4f47-92e5-d8ddd7d73c27
Whitby, Richard W.
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Goldup, Stephen
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Wells, Neil
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Langley, Graham
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Herniman, Julie M.
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Baud, Matthias
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