5-Fluoro-2'deoxyuridine 5'-(p-azidophenyl phosphate), a potential photoaffinity label of thymidylate synthetase

5-Fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-(p-azidophenyl phosphate) (1), a potential photoaffinity labeling reagent for thymidylate synthetase from a methotrexate-resistant strain of Lactobacillus casei, has been synthesized and characterized. UV254 irradiation of mixtures of thymidylate synthetase with 1, containing 14C-labeled phenyl and 3H-labeled pyrimidine rings, in the presence of excess 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate, the cofactor for the reaction, produced two complexes, separable from the native enzyme by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, in which only the 3H-containing moiety was bound to the protein. When mixtures of enzyme and 1 were irradiated in the absence of cofactor, complexes separable from the native enzyme were not observed. However, the 14C-containing component of 1 was now bound to the protein in the absence of the 3H-containing portion. The results are discussed in terms of the topography of the enzyme active site.