Other homobifunctional reagents

Conjugation with OPDM (Table 11.15) is still not very widely used, even if it gives better results than other homobifunctional reagents. With the use of Fab -BGase conjugates in EIA, antigens can be detected in the femto- to attomole (10 -l0- ) range (Adachi et al., 1978). 

In two-step protocols, one of the proteins to be conjugated is reacted with the homobifunctional reagent and excess crosslinker and by-products are removed. In the second stage, the activated protein is mixed with the other protein or molecule to be conjugated, and the final conjugation process occurs (Figure 4.2). 

The particular crosslinkers discussed in this section are the types most often referred to in the literature or are commercially available. Many other forms of homobifunctional reagents containing almost every conceivable chain length and reactivity can be found mentioned in the scientific literature. 

Figure 4.2 Homobifunctional crosslinkers may be used in a two-step process to conjugate two proteins or other molecules. In the first step, one of the two proteins is reacted with the crosslinker in excess to create an active intermediate. After removal of remaining crosslinker, a second protein is added to effect the final conjugate. Two-step reaction schemes somewhat limit the degree of polymerization obtained when using homobifunctional reagents, but can t entirely prevent it.

Compounds having the same functionality on both ends are homobifunctional in nature and can be conjugated with the same target functionality on biomolecules, surfaces, or other molecules. Chapter 4 describes traditional homobifunctional compounds in detail, but the discrete PEG-based reagents are described here, because of their unique hydrophilic properties. 

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