Carbodiimide-mediated reactions with conjugates

Figure 1.95 Carboxylate-containing sugars may be modified with diamines using a carbodiimide-mediated reaction to create available amine groups for subsequent conjugation.

Hydrazide-containing compounds also can be coupled to carboxylate groups using a carbodiimide-mediated reaction. Using bifunctional hydrazide reagents, carboxylates can be modified to possess terminal hydrazide groups able to conjugate with other carbonyl compounds (Chapter 4, Section 8). 

Molecules containing phosphate groups, such as the 5 phosphate of oligonucleotides, also may be conjugated to amine-containing molecules by using a carbodiimide-mediated reaction (Chapter 27, Section 2.1). The carbodiimide activates the phosphate to an intermediate phosphate ester similar to its reaction with carboxylates (Chapter 3, Section 1). In the presence of an amine, the ester reacts to form a stable phosphoramidate bond (Reaction 13). 

Various preparations of antisera to atropine have been reported. A racemic hemisuccinate ester was prepared and conjugated to bovine serum albumin by the carbodiimide technique. Antisera formed to the original immunogen selectively bound the R isomer (34), but a later antiserum prepared by this approach was reported to bind both R and S forms with "equal efficiency" (35). R, S-atropine was treated with diazotized p-amino-benzoic acid, and the resulting compound (which was not further characterized) was used for conjugation to bovine serum albumin by means of a carbodiimide-mediated reaction. Antisera resulting from use of this material were quite selective for the R isomer, with a cross-reaction of only about 2% for the S isomer (36). Virtanen et al. followed this procedure with S-atropine. Their antiserum bound equally to S- and R,S-atropine, as measured by displacement of tritium-labeled R,S-atropine (37). In another study (31), both racemic atropine and the S isomer were coupled to human serum albumin by the technique of Wurtzburger et al. (36), Antisera were obtained that were selective for both the R and S isomers (33). 

The reactions involved in an EDC-mediated conjugation are discussed in Chapter 3, Section 1.1 (Note EDC is l-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride MW 191.7 and is sometimes referred to as EDAC). The carbodiimide first reacts with available carboxylic groups on either the carrier or hapten to form a highly reactive o-acylisourea intermediate. The activated carboxylic group then can react with a primary amine to form an amide bond, with release of the EDC mediator as a soluble isourea derivative. The reaction is quite efficient with no more than 2 hours required for it to go to completion and form a conjugated immunogen. 

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