Fluorogenic diazaborine formation of semicarbazide with designed coumarin derivatives

Chem Commun (Camb). 2017 Nov 21;53(93):12532-12535. doi: 10.1039/c7cc07389e.

Abstract

Bioorthogonal fluorogenic reactions serve as enabling tools in research and biotechnology. Herein we describe fluorogenic conjugations of semicarbazide with coumarin derivatives that incorporate a 2-acetylphenylboronic acid motif. These designed coumarins rapidly conjugate with semicarbazide to give diazaborine products with significantly enhanced fluorescence. To demonstrate potential applications of this fluorogenic reaction, we synthesized a semicarbazide-presenting amino acid d-Dap-Scz, which readily incorporates into the cell wall of Staphalococcus aureus and serves as a handle for conjugation with the coumarins. The fluorogenic conjugation of the coumarins to cell surface semicarbazide enables facile visualization of d-Dap-Scz treated bacteria.