Fast Bioorthogonal Chemistry: Discovery, Development and Applications

Bioorthogonal reactions – chemical transformations that can proceed efficiently without interference from biological functionality – have had broad reaching implications for biomedicine and biotechnology. This seminar will describe the development and advancement of trans-cycloalkenes as tools for facilitating bioorthogonal labeling through reactions with s-tetrazines. Of the various click chemistries that have been pursued over the past decade, the tetrazine ligation enables the fastest reactivity. Described in this talk will be advances in computation and synthesis that have enabled the creation of coupling partners with rate constants that approach diffusion control. After an overview of recent applications of tetrazine ligation to chemical biology and nuclear medicine will be a detailed discussion of recent applications to the field of biomaterials.