Peptidic photoprobes

Peptidic photoprobes can be based on the photoreactive amino acid p-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine inserted into a peptide in place of a natural aromatic residue by peptide synthesis [65] or by manipulation of the genetic code [66]. The use of p-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine for this purpose is not new, but the nature of peptide probes naturally offers opportunities for the location of linkage sites by proteomic analysis [67]. 

Non-peptidic tachykinine antagonists were converted to photoprobe ligands by Ward. First, a piperidine derivative, CP-99,994 (Glaxo) was appended with a diazirine photophore (6, Fig. 7) to study SP (NK1) receptors [74]. A similar modification on a neurokinin A antagonist, SR 48968 (Sanofi) produced a photoligand (5, Fig. 7) in order to investigate NK2 receptor proteins [75]. 

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