Design and Synthesis of Photochemically Controllable Caspase‐3

The selective cleavage achieved by activated caspase-8 has been mimicked by using a photofunctionalized caspase-3 having 2-nitrophenylglycine (Npg) at a specific position of the peptide chain (see picture). The study shows that the activity of caspase-3 has been clearly expressed by photoirradiation and that autocleavage of caspase-3 has been suppressed by the site-selective incorporation of the Npg residue.