Covalent Bond Formation between Aromatic Nitro Compounds and Biomolecules

Abstract

Biological activity and toxicity of nitro compounds in therapeutics have been well studied. However, an attempt for using versatile reactivity of the nitro group for bioconjugation is limited. This review describes i) nitrofuryl compounds that form a covalent bonding with a thiol-containing protein at the adjacent position of the nitro group, and ii) dual reactivity of dinitroimidazoles toward a thiol and an amine, and its application for cyclization of peptides.