Conjugate reductions sodium cyanoborohydride

Schiff base interactions between aldehydes and amines typically are not stable enough to form irreversible linkages. These bonds may be reduced with sodium cyanoborohydride or a number of other suitable reductants (Chapter 2, Section 5) to form permanent secondary amine bonds. However, proteins crosslinked by glutaraldehyde without reduction nevertheless show stabilities unexplainable by simple Schiff base formation. The stability of such unreduced glutaraldehyde conjugates has been postulated to be due to the vinyl addition mechanism, which doesn t depend on the creation of Schiff bases. 

Figure 7.11 Oxidation of glycoproteins with periodate, such as glycosylated antibodies, results in the formation of aldehyde groups that can be used for conjugation to dendrimers containing amine groups. Reductive amination with sodium cyanoborohydride results in coupling via secondary (or tertiary) amine bonds.

The conjugate may be stabilized by addition of a reductant such as sodium borohy-dride or sodium cyanoborohydride. Usually sodium cyanoborohydride is recommended for specific reduction of Schiff bases, but since the conjugate has already formed at this point, the use of sodium borohydride will both reduce the associated Schiff bases and eliminate any remaining aldehyde groups. Add sodium borohydride to a final concentration of lOmg/ml. Continue to react for 1 hour at 4°C. 

Hapten molecules containing aldehyde residues may be crosslinked to carrier molecules by use of reductive animation (Chapter 3, Section 4). At alkaline pH values, the aldehyde groups form intermediate Schiff bases with available amine groups on the carrier. Reduction of the resultant Schiff bases with sodium cyanoborohydride or sodium borohydride creates a stable conjugate held together by secondary amine bonds. 

Thus, glycoproteins such as HRP, GO, or most antibody molecules can be activated for conjugation by brief treatment with periodate. Crosslinking with an amine-containing protein takes place under alkaline pH conditions through the formation of Schiff base intermediates. These relatively labile intermediates can be stabilized by reduction to a secondary amine linkage with sodium cyanoborohydride (Figure 20.8). 

Figure 20.8 Enzymes that are glycoproteins like HRP may be oxidized with sodium periodate to produce reactive aldehyde residues. Conjugation with an antibody then may be done by reductive animation using sodium cyanoborohydride.

An interesting transformation was discovered by Sakai and Shinma (181) during the chemical investigation of corynanthe alkaloid (V-oxides. Polonovski reaction and sodium cyanoborohydride reduction of hirsuteine A-oxide (331) gave corynantheine (52) and 3-isocorynantheidine (65), the latter likely formed by reduction of the conjugated iminium intermediate 334. 

Reduction of unsaturated ketones to unsaturated alcohols is best carried out Nit v complex hydrides. a,/3-Unsaturated ketones may suifer reduction even at the conjugated double bond [764, 879]. Usually only the carbonyl group is reduced, especially if the inverse technique is applied. Such reductions are accomplished in high yields with lithium aluminum hydride [879, 880, 881, 882], with lithium trimethoxyaluminum hydride [764], with alane [879], with diisobutylalane [883], with lithium butylborohydride [884], with sodium boro-hydride [75/], with sodium cyanoborohydride [780, 885] with 9-borabicyclo [3.3.1]nonane (9-BBN) [764] and with isopropyl alcohol and aluminum isopro-... 

Reductive amination (or alkylation) may be used to conjugate an aldehyde- or ketone-containing molecule with an amine-containing molecule. The reduction reaction is best facilitated by the use of a reducing agent such as sodium cyanoborohydride,... 

An obvious means by which to increase the affinity of a molecule for DNA is to link the molecule to a short segment of nucleic acid. Such a plan has been pursued by Paoletti and co-workers (129,130). To prepare the tetrathymidylate-ellipticine conjugate 348, these workers synthesized the appropriate ox-azolopyridocarbazole carboxylic acid, as described previously (i.e., 267), and coupled it to the appropriate tetradeoxynucleotide. A second method of linking ellipticine to a nucleic acid involves condensation of the aldehyde moiety of 3 -apurinic octathymidylate with 9-aminoellipticine, followed by reduction of the imine with sodium cyanoborohydride (130). This reaction is depicted in a different context in Scheme 66 (see Section VIII). 

Sodium cyanoborohydride (NaBHsCN) or tetrabutylammonium cyanoborohydride in acidic methanol or acidic HMPA reduces a,p-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones to the corresponding allylic alcohols. This system is limited to enones in which the double bond is not further conjugated, in which case the allylic hydrocarbon is formed in substantial amounts. Thus, reduction of chalcone gives mainly 1,3-di-phenylpropene (48%) as well as 26% of the allylic ether. Cyclic enones are also not good substrates, as competing 1,4-addition gives large fractions of saturated alcohols. ... 

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