Cation–Cation Photosensitization for Protein Ligation and Intracellular Catalysis
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: -methyl quinolinium scaffold. Structure-reactivity relationships were performed to optimize the sensitizer structure and ultimately generated a system that gives protein labeling in minutes at micromolar reagent concentrations. Mechanistic studies suggest a photoinduced electron transfer-based sensitization mechanism. The mildness of this system enabled us to assay sensitization both on individual biomolecules and in complex proteomes and demonstrated excellent compatibility with lysate- and live-cell-based systems. Imaging of photolabeled HeLa cells was performed and revealed that catalysis occurs in multiple cellular compartments. Chemical proteomics performed at the lysate level resulted in the enrichment of 319 proteins with 93% selectivity to Tryptophan residues. Live cell labeling resulted in 101 enriched proteins, primarily from the nucleus.
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c19565
Authors: Vishal Agarwal, Hieu Pham, Samuel G. Bartko, Michael T. Taylor
Institutions: University of Arizona, University of Wyoming
Language: English
Subfield: Organic Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1778864690, G2401103843, G277436746, G3160104140, G4121506770, MRI: Acquisition of a 500 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer for Research and Training at the University of Arizona, New 500-MHz NMR Console for Biological Research, G8129973466, CAREER: Optically Controlled Protein Proximity Labelling, Upgrade and Acquisition of NMR Instrumentation
OpenAlex ID: W7128989636