A hydrophobic photouncaging reaction to profile the lipid droplet interactome in tissues.

ABSTRACT: Most bioorthogonal photouncaging reactions preferentially occur in polar environments to accommodate biological applications in the aqueous cellular milieu. However, they are not precisely designed to chemically adapt to the diverse microenvironments of the cell. Herein, we report a hydrophobic photouncaging reaction with tailored photolytic kinetics toward solvent polarity. Structural modulations of the aminobenzoquinone-based photocage reveal the impact of cyclic ring size, steric substituent, and electronic substituent on the individual uncaging kinetics (k_H2O and k_dioxane) and polarity preference (k_dioxane/k_H2O). Rational incorporation of optimized moieties leads to up to 20.2-fold nonpolar kinetic selectivity (

SUBMITTER: Shen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12037041 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature