New paper in ACS Organic & Inorganic Au

29 04 2025

Check out our new paper in ACS Organic & Inorganic Au, co-authored by Dr. Tomasz Wdowik in collaboration with Prof. Dorota Gryko from the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Poland.

Red-Light-Induced Cysteine Modifications Suitable for Protein Labeling
ACS Organic & Inorganic Au, 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acsorginorgau.5c00025

Protein labeling is a powerful technique used to track, detect, and study proteins. It is often performed by selective modification of specific low-abundance amino acids, such as cysteine. This amino acid is particularly useful in thiol-ene reactions, which, however, often require UV radiation, radical initiators, or heavy-metal-based photocatalysts — factors that limit their applicability in complex biological environments. In this work, we explore the possibility of using a metal-free porphyrin-based photocatalyst and low-energy red light to facilitate the thiol-ene reaction of cysteine moieties with alkenes. This method operates under mild reaction conditions and can be extended to cysteinyl desulfurization reactions. As this approach proceeds in aqueous environments and enables selective transformations of both free cysteine and cysteine residues within complex proteins, it significantly expands the existing toolbox for cysteine bioconjugation.