Bioconjugation by Native Chemical Tagging of C–H Bonds

A general C-H functionalization method for the tagging of natural products and pharmaceuticals is described. An azide-containing sulfinate reagent allows the appendage of azidoalkyl chains onto heteroaromatics, the product of which can then be attached to a monoclonal antibody by a "click" reaction. This strategy expands the breadth of bioactive small molecules that can be linked to macromolecules in a manner that is beyond the scope of existing methods in bioconjugation to permit tagging of the "seemingly untaggable".