Hapten—carrier conjugation esters

NHS Ester-Maleimide Heterobifunctional Crosslinker-Mediated Hapten-Carrier Conjugation... 

Succinimidyl-4-(N-maleimidomethyl)cyclohexane-l-carboxylate (SMCC) is a heterobifunctional cross-linker with significant utility in cross-linking proteins, particularly in the preparation of antibody-enzyme and hapten-carrier conjugates (Hashida and Ishikawa, 1985 Dewey et al., 1987). The NHS ester end of the reagent can react with primary amine groups on proteins to form stable amide bonds. The maleimide end of SMCC is specific for coupling to sulfhydryls when the reaction pH is in the range of 6.5-7.5 (Smyth et al., 1964) (Fig. 158). 

Another method of NHS ester mediated hapten—carrier conjugation is to create reactive sulfo-NHS esters directly on the carboxylates of the carrier protein using the EDC/sulfo-NHS reaction described in Chapter 3, Section 1.2. A carbodiimide reaction in the presence of sulfo-NHS activates the carboxylate groups on the carrier protein to form amine-reactive sulfo-NHS esters. The activation reaction is done at pH... 

Figure 19.14 Hapten-carrier immunogen conjugates can be formed using homobifunctional NHS ester crosslinkers. The reaction may create large polymeric complexes, some of which could precipitate.

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