Chromogenic diazirine: A new spectrophotometric approach for photoaffinity labeling

2-Nitro-4-3-(trifluoromethyl)-3H-diazirin-3-yl]]phenoxy]acetic acid and its derivatives have been synthesized as a special carbene precursor with a chromogenic group. Photolysis of the diazirine in methanol and cyclohexane gave intermolecular O---H and C---H insertion products, respectively. Spectroscopic properties of the diazirine derivatives and the photo-products revealed that irradiation and detection can be performed in a spectral region where the absorption due to most biological macromolecules is negligible. The application of this reagent will provide a useful approach for simple spectrophotometric detection of labeled products without recourse to conventional radioactive techniques in the photoaffinity labeling methodology.