FastClick(TM) Biotin Azide

FastClick(TM) Biotin Azide contains both the CAG moiety of FastClick (for assisting click efficiency) and biotin hapten (as the detection tag) for developing biotin-based probes. It readily reacts with an alkyne-containing biomolecule under extremely mild conditions. Biotin is one of the most commonly used tags that finds a variety of utilities in biological detections similarly to other popular haptens such as 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) and DIG etc. Biotin conjugates are widely used in fluorescence imaging, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and nucleic acid detections in combination with the fluorescence-labeled streptavidin, avidin or NeutrAvidin(R) or other biotin-binding protein conjugates. FastClick(TM) reagents have been developed by the scientists of AAT Bioquest for enhancing the yield and reaction speed of copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction. They contain a copper-chelating ligand that significantly stabilizes the Cu(I) oxidation state and thus accelerates the click reaction. They do not require the use of an external copper-chelator (such as the common THPTA or BTTAA). The high concentration of copper chelators is known to have a detrimental effect on DNA/RNA, thus causing biocompatibility issues. The introduction of a copper-chelating moiety at the reporter molecule allows for a dramatic raise of the effective Cu(I) concentration at the reaction site and thus accelerates the reaction. Under extremely mild conditions the FastClick(TM) azides and alkynes react much faster in high yield compared to the corresponding conventional CuAAC reactions.