Periodate-Cleavable Glycols

Sodium periodate also may affect tryptophan residues in some proteins. The oxidation of tryptophan can result in activity losses if the amino acid is an essential component of the active site. For instance, avidin and streptavidin may be severely inactivated by treatment with periodate, since tryptophan is important in forming the biotin-binding pocket. In addition, many other amino acid residues are susceptible to oxidation by periodate (Chapter 1, Section 1.1). Limiting the time of oxidation is important to restricting oxidation to diol groups while not affecting other protein structures. 

The use of periodate as a cleavage agent does have advantages, however. Unlike the use of cleavable crosslinkers that contain disulfide bonds which require a reductant to break the conjugate, cleavage of diol-containing crosslinks with periodate typically preserves the indigenous disulfide bonds and tertiary structure of proteins and other molecules. As a result, with most proteins bioactivity usually remains unaffected after mild periodate treatment. 

Two Molecules Conjugated with a Diol-Containing Cross-linking Agent 

Cleaved Cross-linker Releasing the two Conjugated Molecules 

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