Biocompatible strategies for selective N-terminal cysteine modification are sought after by researchers. Native chemical ligation (NCL) [
64-
66], hydrazide-based native chemical ligation [
67-
69] as well as the 2-cyanobenzothiazole (CBT) [
70,
71] condensation reactions represent the major strategies for N-terminal cysteine modification previously. Unfortunately, these reactions are less ideal for biological applications due to slow kinetics and/or suboptimal N-terminal cysteine selectivity. Pack and co-workers report nucleobase-involved native chemical ligation (NbCL) that allows a site-specific oligonucleotide-peptide conjugation
via a new S-N acyl transfer reaction between an oxanine nucleobase and N-terminal cysteine (
Fig. 6A-a). NbCL (2 h) strategy is much faster than NCL strategy (48 h), however, NbCL strategy is performed at 310 K, which should greatly limit its applications especially on proteins [
72]. Alternatively, 2-formylphenylboronic acid (2FPBA) mediated N-terminal cysteine modification strategies with the production of a thiazolidino boronate (TzB) complex are reported by the Gao group [
73] and the Gois group [
74] independently in 2016. However, the TzB formation is dynamic, with the conjugate dissociating over an hour. Recently, the Gao group further optimized this strategy through a TzB-mediated acylation reaction of N-terminal cysteine that gives rise to stable conjugates while retaining the fast kinetics and high selectivity (
Fig. 6A-b) [
75]. NHS-esters are known to have applications for peptide and protein amine group labeling, however, selectivity of NHS-esters is the principle problem. Cole and co-workers have discovered that commercially available NHS ester can be efficiently transesterified with mercaptoethanesulfonate (MESNA). This newly modified NHS-ester can then be used to specifically label N-terminal amine of recombinant proteins possessing free N-cysteine residues (
Fig. 6A-c) [
76]. 2-((Alkylthio)(aryl)methylene)malononitrile (TAMM) has been reported to react specifically and rapidly with the N-terminal cysteine under biocompatible conditions through a unique mechanism involving thiol-vinyl sulfide exchange, cyclization, and elimination of dicyanomethanide to form 2-aryl-4, 5-dihydrothiazole (ADT) as a stable unit (
Fig. 6A-d). TAMM is also applied to cyclize peptides and proteins containing both an N-terminal and an internal cysteine residue to generate phage-based ADT-cyclic peptide libraries without reducing phage infectivity [
77]. Poor solubility of peptide segments is an obvious bottleneck for the chemical synthesis of proteins using NCL. Aucagne and co-workers developed a (Lys)
6 tag mediated methodology based on the introduction of an oligolysine tag through a disulfide linkage with the N-terminal cysteine residue to overcome solubility challenges (
Fig. 6B). (Lys)
6 tag can be cleaved within seconds under NCL conditions to generate
in situ the reactive free cysteine for the later ligation reaction [
78].