Synthesis and Evaluation of Activity‐Based Probes Carrying a 5′‐Fluorosulfonylbenzoyl Adenosine Moiety for Protein Kinases

Chemoselective Reactions of Functionalized Sulfonyl Halides

Chemoselective transformations of functionalized sulfonyl fluorides and chlorides are surveyed comprehensively. It is shown that sulfonyl fluorides provide an excellent selectivity control in their reactions. Thus, numerous conditions are tolerated by the SO2 F group - from amide and ester formation to directed ortho-lithiation and transition-metal-catalyzed cross-couplings. Meanwhile, sulfur (VI) fluoride exchange (SuFEx) is also compatible with numerous functional groups, thus confirming its title of "another click reaction". On the contrary, with a few exceptions, most transformations of functionalized sulfonyl chlorides typically occur at the SO2 Cl moiety.

Introducing SuFNucs: Sulfamoyl-Fluoride-Functionalized Nucleosides That Undergo Sulfur Fluoride Exchange Reaction

The reaction between ribonucleosides and ex situ generated sulfonyl fluoride has been developed. The reaction takes place at the −NH₂ groups of nucleobases, and the resulting nucleosides are equipped with a sulfamoyl fluoride moiety, dubbed SuFNucs. These species undergo a selective sulfur fluoride exchange (SuFEx) reaction with various amines, leading to sulfamide-functionalized derivatives of adenosine, guanosine, and cytidine (SulfamNucs). The scope and examples of further SuFNucs fuctionalization leading to nucleotides, oligonucleotides, and peptide–nucleoside conjugates are presented.

A study of the reactivity of S(VI)–F containing warheads with nucleophilic amino-acid side chains under physiological conditions

Profiling the reactivity and stability of S^VI–F warheads towards nucleophilic amino acids for the development of biochemical probe compounds.

Sulfonyl fluorides as privileged warheads in chemical biology

The use of sulfonyl fluoride probes in chemical biology is reviewed.

Sulfonyl fluoride electrophiles have found significant utility as reactive probes in chemical biology and molecular pharmacology. As warheads they possess the right balance of biocompatibility (including aqueous stability) and protein reactivity. Their functionality is privileged in this regard as they are known to modify not only reactive serines (resulting in their common use as protease inhibitors), but also context-specific threonine, lysine, tyrosine, cysteine and histidine residues. This review describes the application of sulfonyl fluoride probes across various areas of research and explores new approaches that could further enhance the chemical biology toolkit. We believe that sulfonyl fluoride probes will find greater utility in areas such as covalent enzyme inhibition, target identification and validation, and the mapping of enzyme binding sites, substrates and protein–protein interactions.