A potential general method for the synthesis of water-soluble multimetallic peptidic arrays containing a predetermined sequence of metal centers is presented.
We demonstrate a method for the synthesis of a water-soluble multimetallic peptidic array containing a predetermined sequence of metal centers such as Ru(II), Pt(II), and Rh(III). The compound, named as a water-soluble metal-organic complex array (WSMOCA), is obtained through 1) the conventional solution-chemistry-based preparation of the corresponding metal complex monomers having a 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc)-protected amino acid moiety and 2) their sequential coupling together with other water-soluble organic building units on the surface-functionalized polymeric resin by following the procedures originally developed for the solid-phase synthesis of polypeptides, with proper modifications. Traces of reactions determined by mass spectrometric analysis at the representative coupling steps in stage 2 confirm the selective construction of a predetermined sequence of metal centers along with the peptide backbone. The WSMOCA cleaved from the resin at the end of stage 2 has a certain level of solubility in aqueous media dependent on the pH value and/or salt content, which is useful for the purification of the compound.
Controlled synthesis of complicated molecular structures has always been a major issue in synthetic chemistry. From this point of view, to synthesize multinuclear heterometallic complexes in a designable fashion is still a worthy subject to be challenged in the field of inorganic chemistry because of the numbers of possible structural outcomes from the ligand-metallation-based approach that is commonly used for the preparation of monomeric metal complexes. Although several examples of multinuclear heterometallic complexes have been reported so far1,2,3, the trial-and-error or arduous nature of their synthesis necessitates the development of a simple method that is applicable for a wide range of structures.
As a new approach to address this issue, in 2011 we reported a synthetic methodology4,5 where various mononuclear metal complexes having a Fmoc-protected amino acid moiety are sequentially coupled to give multimetallic peptidic arrays by using the protocols of solid-phase polypeptide synthesis6. Due to the consecutive nature of polypeptide synthesis, a specific sequence of multiple metal centers is rationally designable by controlling the number and order of the coupling reactions of those metal complex monomers. Later, this approach was further modularized to make various larger and/or branched array structures by combining with the covalent linkage between two shorter arrays7.
Here we will show how the synthesis of such multimetallic peptidic arrays is typically operated by choosing the recently reported WSMOCA (18 CAS RN 1827663-18-2; Figure 1) as a representative example. Although the synthesis of one particular array is described in this protocol, the same procedures are applicable to the synthesis of a wide range of different sequences, including isomers9. We expect that this protocol will inspire more researchers to participate in the science of sequence-controlled compounds, where the molecules investigated thus far have typically been biopolymers but rarely include examples of metal-complex-based species.
1. Preparation of Metal Complex Monomers (2 CAS RN 1381776-70-0, 3 CAS RN 1261168-42-6, 4 CAS RN 1261168-43-7; Figure 1)
2. Preparation of Water-soluble Metal–Organic Complex Array 1
Figure 1 shows the molecular structures of the final target compound, precursors, and intermediates. Figure 2 shows the images of the resin and Figure 3 shows the MALDI-TOF mass spectra of samples at selected procedure steps. Images from Figure 2a a 2h show the changes in the color and appearance of the resin that it undergoes during the reaction steps in section 2 of the protocol. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry is used to trace the reactions and to confirm the presence of target species as expected.
Figure 1. Molecular structures of the WSMOCA, precursors, and intermediates. (1) the targeted WSMOCA; (2, 3, 4) the Ru, Pt, and Rh monomers, respectively; (5) the organic precursor for Ru monomer 2; (6) the organic precursor for Pt monomer 3 and Rh monomer 4; (7) Glu; (8) TEG acid; (9, 10, 11) synthetic intermediates to be detected at 2.3.3, 2.5.2, and 2.7.2, respectively. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 2. Appearances of the resin at the selected synthetic steps. Photos of (a) as-purchased TG Sieber resin in the glassware for solid-phase synthesis at 2.1.1; (b) the resin swelled in CH2Cl2 at 2.1.2; (c) the resin washed after the deprotection of Fmoc groups at 2.1.4; (d) the resin suspended in a solution for the loading of Ru monomer 2 at 2.2.1; (e) the resin suspended in a solution for the loading of Glu at 2.3.1; (f) the resin suspended in a solution for the loading of Pt monomer 3 at 2.4.1; (g) the resin suspended in a solution for the loading of Rh monomer 4 at 2.6.1; (h) the resin suspended in a solution for the cleavage reaction at 2.9.4. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 3. Traces of the preparation of 1 determined by mass spectrometric analysis. MALDI-TOF mass spectra of samples as-cleaved from the resin at the selected steps of the solid-phase synthesis (procedures (a) 2.3.3 to confirm the presence of 9; (b) 2.5.2 to confirm the presence of 10; (c) 2.7.2 to confirm the presence of 11; (d) 2.9.5 to confirm the presence of 1) and those of the samples at the following steps (procedures (e) 2.9.7 to confirm the complete deprotection of tBu groups at the side residues of 1; (f) 2.10.5 to confirm the absence of any major signals other than that of 1). Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Perfect removal of the undesired chemicals from the resin is not always possible simply by washing with solvents that can easily dissolve those chemicals. A key technique to efficiently wash the resin is to cause it to swell and shrink repetitively so that the chemicals remaining inside will be forced out. This is why the resin in our procedure is treated with CH2Cl2 and MeOH alternately as it is washed (e.g., protocol 2.1.4).
As a consequence of successive multiple non-quantitative coupling reactions, the amount of targeted array in the as-cleaved mixture at the end of the solid-phase synthesis could be small. Although each reaction in the solid-phase synthesis is generally only conducted once, the same coupling reaction can be repeated multiple times, as exemplified in protocol 2.6, if it is necessary to improve the overall coupling yield of the corresponding reaction step. By repeating the same coupling reaction two times, a ~10% larger yield of the corresponding coupling reaction can be realized.
In contrast to Fmoc-protected amino acid monomers commonly used for solid-phase polypeptide synthesis, those monomers bearing a metal complex for multimetallic peptidic arrays generally show a yield of no more than 80% in their coupling reactions at the surface of the resin. Steric effects due to the presence of a bulky metal complex moiety play a role, as the insertion of one amino acid unit at the C-terminal of the monomer sometimes improves its coupling yield drastically. However, even such modifications of the monomer structure are still not enough to optimize the quantitative coupling reactions. This is an issue to be addressed in the future, particularly for the high-throughput production of multimetallic peptidic arrays via the automation of the whole process of this methodology, as already established in the case of solid-phase polypeptide synthesis.
Compared with solution-phase synthesis, one of the important advantages of solid-phase synthesis is the easy separation of products attached to the resin from other chemicals in the solution by filtration and washing with solvents that can dissolve them.11 This is particularly useful for the synthesis of multimetallic species whose separation/purification is not easy with other methods. Accordingly, the protocol highlighted here is the only realistic choice to make multimetallic peptidic arrays having a predetermined sequence of three or more different metals. Moreover, due to the simplicity of this method, the protocol can cover the production of a much wider range of multimetallic heteronuclear complexes than those accessible from already-existing synthetic approaches1,2,3.
As compounds produced by this method possess a perfectly controlled sequence of metal centers along the peptide backbone, they are appealing candidates to investigate the effects of such sequence-regulated structures on the interactions with bio-related molecules (e.g., peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, and sugars, which also have a regulated sequence in their structure). This is our incentive to make the products water-soluble.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
This work was supported by the World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative on Materials Nanoarchitectonics and a Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research (No. 26620139), both of which were provided from MEXT, Japan.
Dichloro(p‐cymene)ruthenium(II), dimer | Kanto Chemical | 11443-65 | |
Dichloro(1,5-cyclooctadiene)platinum(II) | TCI | D3592 | |
Rhodium(III) chloride trihydrate | Kanto Chemical | 36018-62 | |
Phosphate buffered saline, tablet | Sigma Aldrich | P4417-50TAB | |
NovaSyn TG Sieber resin | Novabiochem | 8.55013.0005 | |
HBTU | TCI | B1657 | |
Benzoic anhydride | Kanto Chemical | 04116-30 | |
Fmoc-Glu(OtBu)-OH・H2O | Watanabe Chemical Industries | K00428 | |
Trifluoroacetic acid | Kanto Chemical | 40578-30 | |
Triethylsilane | TCI | T0662 | |
2-[2-(2-Methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]acetic acid | Sigma Aldrich | 407003 | Dried over 3Å sieves |
Dithranol | Wako Pure Chemical Industries | 191502 | |
N-methylimidazole | TCI | M0508 | |
N‐ethyldiisopropylamine | Kanto Chemical | 14338-32 | |
Piperidine | Kanto Chemical | 32249-30 | |
4'-(4-methylphenyl)-2,2':6',2"-terpyridine | Sigma Aldrich | 496375 | |
Dehydrated grade dimethylsulfoxide | Kanto Chemical | 10380-05 | |
Dehydrated grade methanol | Kanto Chemical | 25506-05 | |
Dehydrated grade N,N‐Dimethylformamide | Kanto Chemical | 11339-84 | Amine Free |
Dehydrated grade dichloromethane | Kanto Chemical | 11338-84 | |
MeOH | Kanto Chemical | 25183-81 | |
Dimethylsulfoxide | Kanto Chemical | 10378-70 | |
Ethyl acetate | Kanto Chemical | 14029-81 | |
Acetonitrile | Kanto Chemical | 01031-70 | |
1,2-dichloroethane | Kanto Chemical | 10149-00 | |
Diethyl ether | Kanto Chemical | 14134-00 | |
Dichloromethane | Kanto Chemical | 10158-81 |