Synthesis of the copper chelator TGTA and evaluation of its ability to protect biomolecules from copper induced degradation during copper catalyzed azide-alkyne bioconjugation reactions.

One of the most successful bioconjugation strategies to date is the copper(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition reaction (CuAAC), however, the typically applied reaction conditions have been found to degrade sensitive biomolecules. Herein, we present a water soluble copper chelator which can be utilized to protect biomolecules from copper induced degradation.