Discovery of new tetrazines for bioorthogonal reactions with strained alkenes via computational chemistry

Abstract

Tetrazines are widely employed reagents in bioorthogonal chemistry, as they react readily with strained alkenes in inverse electron demand Diels–Alder reactions, allowing for selective labeling of biomacromolecules. For optimal performance, tetrazine reagents have to react readily with strained alkenes, while remaining inert against nucleophiles like thiols. Balancing these conditions is a challenge, as reactivity towards strained alkenes and nucleophiles is governed by the same factor – the energy of unoccupied orbitals of tetrazine. Herein, we utilize computational chemistry to screen a set of tetrazine derivatives, aiming to identify structural elements responsible for a better ratio of reactivity with strained alkenes vs. stability against nucleophiles. This advantageous trait is present in sulfone- and sulfoxide-substituted tetrazines. In the end, the distortion/interaction model helped us to identify that the reason behind this enhanced reactivity profile is a secondary orbital interaction between the strained alkene and sulfone-/sulfoxide-substituted tetrazine. This insight can be used to design new tetrazines for bioorthogonal chemistry with improved reactivity/stability profiles.