Start-up grant Nadace Experientia 2026–2028 získává Tomáš Fiala (Přírodovědecká fakulta MUNI)

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ChemiCator

Welcome to ChemiCator! 🔬 Dive Deep into the Fascinating World of Organic Chemistry 🔬 Are you passionate about organic chemistry? Whether you're a student striving for excellence, a curious mind eager...

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Mass spectrometry and enzyme assays refute histone tyrosine sulfation - Nature Chemical Biology

Nature Chemical Biology - Mass spectrometry and enzyme assays refute histone tyrosine sulfation

nature.com

The ERC awards €761m to the next generation of scientists in Europe

The European Research Council (ERC) has selected 478 early-career researchers across Europe to receive this year’s Starting Grants. With a total funding of €761 million, these grants support excellent...

erc.europa.eu

Immobilized acyl-transfer molecular reactors enable the solid-phase synthesis of sterically hindered peptides - Nature Chemistry

Current solid-phase peptide synthesis methods struggle to incorporate sterically hindered amino acids. Now researchers have developed a ribosome-mimicking molecular reactor that bypasses two-phase acy...

nature.com

A Functional Assay for Mining Noninhibitory Enzyme Ligands from One Bead One Compound Libraries: Application to E3 Ubiquitin Ligases

Chemical dimerizers are synthetic molecules that bring into proximity two or more proteins that do not normally interact with one another. A major application of this technology is to recruit an enzym...

pubs.acs.org

London Dispersion as a Design Element in Molecular Catalysis

This Perspective describes the role of London dispersion (LD) interactions as a key factor controlling chemical selectivity. LD arises from the correlated motion of electrons, leading to subtle yet significant stabilization (“steric attraction”), and counterbalances, together with other noncovalent interactions, Pauli exchange repulsion (“steric hindrance”). While chemists have largely relied on the latter to rationalize selectivities in catalyzed reactions, we emphasize here the role LD plays as a key design element in chemical reactions, in particular, for catalyst development.

pubs.acs.org

pubs.acs.org

pubs.acs.org

Bambusuril as Effective Astatide Sequestrator Agent by Hydrogen Bonding

Herein, we report a molecular-cage allowing strong chelation of the 211At radioanion. Propargylated bambus[6]uril shows good affinity towards iodide and astatide radiohalides, affording promising incl...

pubs.rsc.org

Introduction of Reactive Thiol Handles into Tyrosine-Tagged Proteins through Enzymatic Oxidative Coupling

Site-specific protein bioconjugation methods have enabled the development of new therapeutics and materials, and further development of existing techniques has expanded the compatible library of prote...

pubs.acs.org

Visualization and Quantification of Base-Level SO2 in Live Cells without Intracellular Background Interference Using Sensitive 19F-NMR

Sulfur dioxide (SO2), as an endogenous gasotransmitter, is involved in a variety of physiological processes in living systems, however, distinction and quantification of base-level SO2 in live cells p...

pubs.acs.org

Water and Collagen: A Mystery Yet to Unfold

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body and plays an essential role in determining the mechanical properties of the tissues. Both as a monomeric protein and in fibrous assemblies, coll...

pubs.acs.org

Hyperstable and Fibril-Forming Collagen-Mimetic Peptides in Shortest Triple Helices: Empowering the Capping by π-systems

Developing collagen-mimetic peptides (CMPs) with short triple helices and fibril-forming ability remains challenging. Herein, we stabilized short CMPs (3–6 GPO repeats) by attaching extended aromatic π-system─fluorenyl groups at the N-terminus and tyrosine at the C-terminus. These modifications promoted triple helix folding through π–π interactions, acting as a “glue” to stabilize the structure and facilitate fibrillation. A single fluorenyl cap required 5 GPO repeats for helix formation, while double fluorenyl capping reduced this to 4 repeats. Notably, at pH 5.5, triple helices formed with only 3 GPO repeats. The double-capped CMPs exhibited hyperstability (Tm = 76 °C) and formed fibrillar networks at physiological pH. Biophysical and computational studies confirmed the role of π–π and CH–π interactions, along with hydrogen bonding, in stabilization. The minimalistic CMPs supported cell viability, demonstrating their potential for biomedical applications. This strategy offers a method to design highly stable, short CMPs that form robust fibrillar networks.

pubs.acs.org

This Norwegian biotech is developing next-gen fibrosis treatments

Tribune Therapeutics raises $40 million to target the signaling pathways that drive fibrosis

cen.acs.org

Conditional Activation of Protein Therapeutics by Templated Removal of Peptide Nucleic Acid Masking Groups

Interleukin-2 (IL-2)-based therapeutics are emerging as treatments for immunotherapy; however, systemic activation of immune cells hampers their success. Chemically controlling the activity of potent...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Glucose-derived receptors for photo-controlled binding of amino acid esters in water - Communications Chemistry

Selective amino acid receptors that operate in aqueous media are of interest for potential diagnostic and sensing applications. Here, the authors report glucose-derived photoswitchable receptors based...

nature.com

Seeing the Spikes: The Future of Targetable Synthetic Voltage Sensors

Measuring the transduction of electrical signals within neurons is a key capability in neuroscience. Fluorescent voltage sensitive dyes (VSDs) were early tools that complemented classical electrophysiology by enabling the optical recording of membrane potential changes from many cells simultaneously. Recent advances in the VSD field have led to bright and highly sensitive sensors that can be targeted to the desired cell populations in live brain tissue. Despite this progress, recently, protein-based genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) have become the go-to tools for targeted voltage imaging in complex environments. In this Perspective, we summarize progress in developing targetable VSDs, discuss areas where these synthetic sensors are or could become relevant, and outline hurdles that need to be overcome to promote the routine use of targetable VSDs in neuroscience research.

pubs.acs.org

Proline cis/trans Conformational Selection Controls 14–3–3 Binding

Intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDRs) are structurally dynamic yet functional, often interacting with other proteins through short linear motifs (SLiMs). Proline residues in IDRs introduce c...

pubs.acs.org

Triazination/IEDDA Cascade Modular Strategy Installing Pyridines/Pyrimidines onto Tyrosine Enables Peptide Screening and Optimization

Modular chemical postmodification of peptides is a promising strategy that supports the optimization and innovation of hit peptide therapeutics by enabling rapid derivatization. However, current metho...

pubs.acs.org

Is Europe Running out of Chemistry Teachers?

As shortages of qualified teachers plague schools, the chemical sciences community worries about who will inspire the next generation of scientists.

pubs.acs.org

A Protein Cleavage Platform Based on Selective Formylation at Cysteine Residues

Site-selective cleavage of the peptide backbone in proteins is an important class of post-translational modification (PTM) in nature. However, the organic chemistry for such site-selective peptide bond cleavages has yet to be fully explored. Herein, we report cysteine S-formylation as a means of selective protein backbone cleavage. We developed N-formyl sulfonylanilide as a cysteine-selective formylation reagent for peptides and proteins. Upon S-formylation with the reagent, the amide bond adjacent to the S-formylated cysteine is cleaved by hydrolysis under neutral aqueous conditions. Formylation probes bearing a protein ligand enabled the affinity-based selective cleavage of the target proteins not only in the test tube but also under biorelevant conditions such as in crude cell lysate and on the cell surface. These results demonstrate the high biocompatibility of this protein cleavage technology. A proof-of-concept study of cleavage-induced protein activation further demonstrates its utility as a platform for the functional regulation of proteins by artificial PTM.

pubs.acs.org

A Malleable Collagen‐Mimic that Undergoes Moisture‐Induced Hardening for Gluing Hydrophilic Surfaces

A collagen-inspired helical protein-mimic has been synthesized via topochemical polymerization of a designed tripeptide monomer. In the monomer crystal, molecules arrange in a head-to-tail manner, fo...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Selective Protein (Post-)modifications through Dynamic Covalent Chemistry: Self-activated SNAr Reactions

SNAr reactions were remarkably accelerated using a pretargeting and activating unit based on dynamic covalent chemistry (DCvC). A Cys attack at the C–F bond on the aromatic ring of salicylaldehyde derivatives was only observed upon iminium formation with a neighboring Lys residue of model small peptides. Such self-activation was ascribed to the stronger electron-withdrawing capability of the iminium bond with respect to that of the parent aldehyde that stabilized the transition state of the reaction, together with the higher preorganization of the reactive groups in the cationic aldiminium species. This approach was further applied for the functionalization of two antibodies. In both cases, the presence of the aldehyde group in close proximity to the reactive C–F bond resulted in a noteworthy increase in bioconjugation yields, with excellent chemo-selectivity. Whereas the modification of an IgG1 antibody led to stochastic product distributions, microenvironment selectivity was noted when employing IgG4, in line with the lower number of Lys residues in the hinge region of the latter. Additionally, the postfunctionalization of the modified antibodies was attained through the dynamic covalent exchange of the tethered iminium derivative with hydrazides, representing an unprecedented “tag and modify” selective bioconjugation strategy based on DCvC.

pubs.acs.org

A Versatile “Synthesis Tag” (SynTag) for the Chemical Synthesis of Aggregating Peptides and Proteins

Solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and native chemical ligation (NCL) are powerful methods for obtaining peptides and proteins that are otherwise inaccessible. Nonetheless, numerous sequences are di...

pubs.acs.org