Current Organic Chemistry - Volume 17, Issue 6, 2013

In this review, major categories of molecular fluorophores were summarized with emphasis on their synthetic strategies and chemical transformations. Recent advancement in small-molecule fluorophores as novel molecular probes in living cells was also discussed.

Misfolding of a protein is a destructive process for variety of diseases that include neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson disease, Huntington disease, mad cow disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontal temporal dementia (FTD), and other non-CNS diseases such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and lysosomal storage diseases. Formation of various misfunctional large assembles of th Read More

Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition has been developed as a new, simple, efficient, and generally applicable synthetic strategy, known as ‘Click Chemistry’. The reaction utilizes two bioorthogonal functional groups, azide and alkyne, which can be readily incorporated into biological molecules with straightforward chemical modification. The reaction can be performed in low substrate concentration under a wide range of conditi Read More

The first reported click reaction, copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition had limited biocompatibility due to the high toxicity of copper. Since alternative bioorthogonal click reactions have been developed, they have strongly influenced the field of chemical biology. Here are summarized three main metal-free click methodologies based on cycloaddition, Staudinger and thioene reactions. This review contains t Read More

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been recognized as one of the three important gasotransmitters along with nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO). H2S plays regulatory roles in the cardiovascular system (CV), central nervous system (CNS), respiratory system, gastrointestinal system, and endocrine system. The study to understand its molecular mechanism is still ongoing. Current methods for the detection of H2S include c Read More

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), are important byproducts of oxygen metabolites. They are essential to life, but become highly harmful in case of exhaustion of antioxidants, causing oxidative stress through the oxidation of biomolecules. Sensitive and selective tools are needed to study H2O2 in living systems owing to its reactive and transient nature. The fluorescent H2O2 probes are powerful t Read More