Reactions of Sulfur-Containing Organic Compounds and Peptides in 1-Ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium Acetate

The neat ionic liquid (IL) [C₂mim][OAc] is not just capable of dissolving thiol- and disulfide-containing compounds, but is able to chemically react with them without addition of any catalytic reagent. Through the analysis of four small organic molecules and a cysteine-containing peptide we could postulate a general reaction mechanism. Here, the imidazolium-carbenes preferentially react with the disulfide bond, but not thiol group. Moreover, the imidazole moiety was found to abstract the sulfur atom from the cysteine residue, providing an alternative way to transform Cys residues, which were artificially inserted into a peptide sequence in order to perform native chemical ligation (NCL) of two peptide fragments. Finally, the chemical reaction of [C₂mim][OAc] with a cysteine-containing biomolecules can be tuned or even suppressed through the addition of at least 30% of water to the reaction mixture.