A novel heterotrifunctional peptide-based cross-linking reagent for facile access to bioconjugates. Applications to peptide fluorescent labelling and immobilisation.

A convenient, versatile and straightforward synthesis of a novel heterotrifunctional peptide-based linker molecule is described. This generic bio-labelling reagent contains an amine-reactive N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate moiety, an aldehyde/ketone-reactive aminooxy group and a thiol group with a propensity to form urea, oxime and thioether linkages respectively. The full chemical orthogonality between the free aminooxy and thiol functionalities was demonstrated through the preparation of a fluorescent reagent suitable for the selective staining of a carboxaldehyde-modified surface by means of oxime ligation. The absence of reactivity of these two functions toward the nucleophile-sensitive active carbamate was obtained by using temporary aminooxy- and thiol-protecting groups removable under mild conditions. The utility of the linker molecule to cross-link three different molecular partners has been illustrated by the preparation of fluorescent tripod-functionalised surfaces which may be useful in developing new peptide microarrays and related immunosensors.