I can see clearly now: Bicyclo[6.1.0]non‐4‐yne, an easily prepared, symmetrical cycloalkyne, displays excellent reaction kinetics in strain‐promoted cycloaddition reactions with azides and nitrones (see scheme). Highly specific protein modifications are demonstrated in vitro and subcellular‐resolved imaging of glycan expression was achieved in metastatic melanoma cells during invasive migration into three‐dimensional collagen lattices.

A strained aza-dibenzocyclooctyne was prepared via a high-yielding synthetic route. Copper-free, strain-promoted click reaction with azides showed excellent kinetics, and a functionalised aza-cyclooctyne was applied in fast and efficient PEGylation of enzymes.

A nearly forgotten reaction discovered more than 60 years ago—the cycloaddition of a cyclic alkyne and an organic azide, leading to an aromatic triazole—enjoys a remarkable popularity. Originally discovered out of pure chemical curiosity, and dusted off early this century as an efficient and clean bioconjugation tool, the usefulness of cyclooctyne–azide cycloaddition is now adopted in a wide range of fields of chemical science and beyond. Its ease of operation, broad solvent compatibility, 100 % atom efficiency, and the high stability of the resulting triazole product, just to name a few aspects, have catapulted this so-called strain-promoted azide–alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) right into the top-shelf of the toolbox of chemical biologists, material scientists, biotechnologists, medicinal chemists, and more. In this chapter, a brief historic overview of cycloalkynes is provided first, along with the main synthetic strategies to prepare cycloalkynes and their chemical reactivities. Core aspects of the strain-promoted reaction of cycloalkynes with azides are covered, as well as tools to achieve further reaction acceleration by means of modulation of cycloalkyne structure, nature of azide, and choice of solvent.

A robust, generally applicable, nongenetic technology is presented to convert monoclonal antibodies into stable and homogeneous ADCs. Starting from a native (nonengineered) mAb, a chemoenzymatic protocol allows for the highly controlled attachment of any given payload to the N-glycan residing at asparagine-297, based on a two-stage process: first, enzymatic remodeling (trimming and tagging with azide), followed by ligation of the payload based on copper-free click chemistry. The technology, termed GlycoConnect, is applicable to any IgG isotype irrespective of glycosylation profile. Application to trastuzumab and maytansine, both components of the marketed ADC Kadcyla, demonstrate a favorable in vitro and in vivo efficacy for GlycoConnect ADC. Moreover, the superiority of the native glycan as attachment site was demonstrated by in vivo comparison to a range of trastuzumab-based glycosylation mutants. A side-by-side comparison of the copper-free click probes bicyclononyne (BCN) and a dibenzoannulated cyclooctyne (DBCO) showed a surprising difference in conjugation efficiency in favor of BCN, which could be even further enhanced by introduction of electron-withdrawing fluoride substitutions onto the azide. The resulting mAb-conjugates were in all cases found to be highly stable, which in combination with the demonstrated efficacy warrants ADCs with a superior therapeutic index.

Quicker and slicker: An efficient metal‐free 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition of dibenzocyclooctynes with nitrones proceeded with rate constants of up to 39 M⁻¹ s⁻¹, or up to 300 times faster than similar reactions with azides. This strategy is useful for the site‐specific N‐terminal modification of peptides and proteins (see scheme).