Accelerating Strain-Promoted Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition Using Micellar Catalysis.

Bioorthogonal conjugation reactions such as strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) have become increasingly popular in recent years, as they enable site-specific labeling of complex biomolecules. However, despite a number of improvements to cyclooctyne design, reaction rates for SPAAC remain significantly lower than those of the related copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction. Here we explore micellar catalysis as a means to increase reaction rate between a cyclooctyne and hydrophobic azide.