The past seven years have witnessed the burgeoning of protein bioconjugation reactions highlighting aryl transition metal reagents as coupling partners. This new bioorthogonal organometallic chemistry, which sets the scene for stoichiometric processes in place of the catalytic procedures that developed in parallel, already enabled the forging of C-S and C-C bonds onto protein substrates, respectively in their native state or equipped with pre-installed non-natural terminal alkene or alkyne appendages. We summarize here this body of work, which has already put in the limelight elaborated palladium and gold complexes equipped with biologically relevant appendages, such as fluorescent and affinity tags, as well as drug molecules.
2018-02- A new classification algorithm based on mechanisms of action
Bauer, F. J.; Thomas, P. C.; Fouchard, S. Y.; Neunlist, S. Computational Toxicology 2018, 5, 8-15.
A good understanding of Mechanisms of Action (MechoAs) and appropriate methods to determine them is crucial for the accurate prediction of toxicity using in silico techniques. In the most common classification algorithms used to predict Modes of toxic Action, the prediction domain is often limited by the need to identify known structural alerts. To circumvent this limitation, we developed a new algorithm to predict MechoAs principally based on mammals and fish.
2018-03- Novel applications of fluorescent brighteners in aqueous visible-light photopolymerization: high performance water-based coating and LED-assisted hydrogel synthesis
Zuo, X.; Morlet-Savary, F.; Schmitt, M.; Le Nouën, D.; Blanchard, N.; Goddard, J.-P.; Lalevée, J. Polymer Chem. 2018, 9, 3952-3958.
Commercial fluorescent brighteners are shown to be active photoinitiators in aqueous visible-light photopolymerization. The proposed systems are characterized by: (i) a low intensity visible-light photopolymerization reaction of acrylates in water using a unique photoinitiating system consisting of a catalytic amount of commercially available optical brighteners and diphenyliodonium salt and (ii) a category of more ecofriendly acrylate formulations enabling the LED-assisted synthesis of hydrogels that typically show high swelling capability.
2018-04- Copper-mediated synthesis of N-vinyl ynamide from N-vinyl carbamates
Le Fouler, V.; Duret, G.; Bisseret, P.; Blanchard, N.Tetrahedron Lett. 2018, 59, 3349-3352.
Ynamides are versatile 3-atoms building blocks for organic synthesis as they participate in a variety of ionic, radical and pericyclic processes. Converting ynamides into 5-atom building blocks, such as the yet unreported N-vinyl ynamides, would open new avenues in this fascinating chemistry. We describe herein our efforts towards such goal and demonstrate that the cross-coupling between N-vinyl carbamates and bromo-alkynes using copper(I) thiophene carboxylate, 1,10-phenanthroline and tBuOK in DMSO is a reactive system with an improved profile compared to the classical ynamides syntheses. The advantages and limitations of this copper-mediated reaction are discussed.
2018-05- High-accuracy prediction of mechanisms of action using structural alerts
Bauer, F. J.; Thomas, P. C.; Fouchard, S. Y.; Neunlist, S. J. M.,Computational Toxicology 2018, 7, 36-45.
Knowing the mechanism of action (MechoA) of substances is a crucial first step in determining an Adverse Outcome Pathway and in risk assessment, especially when using in silico models to predict (eco)toxicity. We developed a set of structural alerts associated with specific MechoAs based on (eco)toxicity data on hundreds of chemicals and compiled them into a new method to predict MechoAs with high accuracy and with simple rules. The MechoA scheme classifies substances into 6 general MechoAs and 23 detailed MechoA sub-groups. This model will be continuously enhanced with the addition of new rules and minor corrections as they are discovered.
