Heterobifunctional compounds

Unlike the use of homobifunctional crosslinkers, heterobifunctional compounds usually don t have to be used in large excess with amine particles to prevent aggregation. This is due to the fact that only one of the ends of the crosslinker can react with the amines on the particles. 

BMPA is N-(3-maleimidopropionic acid (or 3-maleimidopropionic acid), which contains a thiol-reactive maleimide group at one end and a carboxylate group on the other end (Rich et al., 1975 Moroder, 1983, 1987). The compound is the acid precursor to the short, heterobifunctional crosslinker 3-maleimidopropionic acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (BMPS). 

Figure 5.11 NPIA is one of the shortest heterobifunctional reagents. It reacts with amine-containing molecules through its p-nitrophenyl ester end to produce amide bonds. The iodoacetyl group then can be used to couple with thiol compounds to give stable thioether linkages.

In addition, the PEG-based heterobifunctional crosslinkers described in Chapter 18, Section 2, provide enhanced water-solubility for antibody conjugation applications. Conjugation of antibody molecules using a maleimide-PEG -NHS ester compound actually increases the solubility of the antibody and may help to maintain stability for certain sensitive monoclonals better than the traditional aliphatic crosslinkers. The methods described below for SMCC may be used with success for PEG-based reagents or other maleimide-NHS ester heterobifunctionals. 

Figure 25.10 PEG-amine compounds may be reacted with this heterobifunctional crosslinker to form amide bond derivatives terminating in maleimide groups. This results in a homobifunctional reagent capable of crosslinking thiol molecules. Subsequent reaction with sulfhydryl-containing molecules yields thioether linkages.

The terminal groups of the heterobifunctional thiol compounds are important for the interaction of the monolayers with biomolecules. For this purpose, several functionalized thiols are used to couple biomolecules with the monolayer, for example amino-, carboxyl- and hydroxyl-terminated thiols. As... 

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