Uses of Click Chemistry

By Chandana Valaboju | 30 September 2024

The click reaction mechanism is simple, with minimum reaction conditions, reagents and catalysts. This is essential for the usage of it in human beings, so that that doesn’t get in the way of the body’s usual chemical reactions (bio-orthogonality). Since groups like azides and alkynes are not normally found in biological molecules, the reaction becomes highly selective. This makes it an attractive choice.

Applications include (based on modifying functional biomolecules):

  1. Drugs: A research team has shown that click chemistry can be used to inhibit HIV-1-PR, an enzyme that supports the HIV virus and causes AIDS.

  2. Nucleic Acid Labelling: Advantageous when applied for the in vitro and in vivo study of cell cycle kinetics, DNA and RNA synthesis, and cellular proliferation.

  3. Radiochemistry: It aids in the development of highly effective in vivo targeting methods, easy labeling of peptides and proteins.

  4. Materials Science: Since it is compatible with many functional groups, there really is no limit to where it can be used. For instance, hydrogels were developed for use in tissue engineering using click chemistry.

References:

  1. Zihau Xu, Kaitlin M. Bratlie. (2018, May 26). Click Chemistry and Material Selection for in Situ Fabrication of Hydrogels in Tissue Engineering Applications. ACS Publications.
  2. Jan-Philip Meyer, Pierre Adumeau, Jason S. Lewis, Brian M. Zeglis. (2016, October 27). Click Chemistry and Radiochemistry: The First 10 years. ACS Publications.
  3. Mukesh M. Mugdal, Nagaraju Birudukota, Mayur A. Doke. (2018, July 19). Applications of Click Chemistry in the Development of HIV Protease Inhibitors. National Library of Medicine.
  4. Nicolo Zuin Fantoni, Afaf H. El-Sagheer, Tom Brown. (2021, January 14). A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Click-Chemistry with Nucleic Acids. ACS Publications.
  5. Olof Ramstrom. (2022, October 5). Scientific Background on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022, CLICK CHEMISTRY AND BIOORTHOGONAL CHEMISTRY. The Nobel Committee for Chemistry

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