Thermo Fisher Scientific Offers New Line of Bioorthogonal Reagents for Chemoselective Labeling of Biomolecules

Thermo Fisher Scientific today announced its new line of Thermo Scientific Staudinger Ligation Reagents for in vivo and in vitro labeling of biomolecules. The Staudinger chemistry relies on an azide-phosphine conjugation that works well in live-cell labeling and mass spectrometry applications, and it is particularly useful in the study of protein glycosylation. The high degree of chemoselectivity eliminates off-target ligations with other biomolecules.

The Staudinger ligation reactions are performed in aqueous solutions at physiological pH without side reactions with buffers or detergents. Azido-labeled biomolecules, such as azido-glycans, are bioorthogonal, as they can be incorporated into a protein metabolically and then detected with a variety of phoshine probes, including Thermo Scientific DyLight Flourescent Dye-based probes. The small size and high specificity of the azido group prevent any disruption to the biological activity of the protein, and the group reacts only with a phoshine-labeled probe. Unlike the copper-dependent click chemistry, the Staudinger Ligation Reagents offer an alternative that is non-toxic to biological systems because there is no biomolecule oxidation. The two-reagent Staudinger Ligation System is easier to use and troubleshoot over the five-component click reactions.