Photophysical properties and synthesis of new dye-cyclooctyne conjugates for multicolor and advanced microscopy.

Cyclooctyne conjugates with fluorophores are often used for bioorthogonal labeling in cells and tissues. However, no comprehensive library of one cyclooctyne core structure with different fluorescent dyes spanning the whole visible spectrum up to the NIR had been described so far. Hence, we synthesized and evaluated one cyclooctyne core structure which is easily accessible for the attachment of different dyes for multicolor imaging, FRET analysis, and study of metabolism in vivo.

Post-synthetic modification of metal-organic framework thin films using click chemistry: the importance of strained C-C triple bonds.

In this work, we demonstrate that strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) yields virtually complete conversion in the context of the post-synthetic modification (PSM) of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). We use surface-anchored MOF (SURMOF) thin films, [Zn2(N3-bdc)2(dabco)], grown on modified Au substrates using liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) as a model system to first show that, with standard click chemistry, presently, the most popular method for rendering additional functionality to MOFs via PSM, quantitative conversion yields, cannot be reached. In addition, it is virtually impossible to avoid contaminations of the product by the cytotoxic Cu(I) ions used as a catalyst, a substantial problem for applications in life sciences.