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Abstract

Diazirines—strained three-membered rings containing two doubly-bound nitrogens—have been used for over 40 years for the identification of protein binding partners of bioactive small molecules. Starting in 2019, our group leveraged diazirines to create a new family of universal polymer crossslinkers: reagents that could upgrade the performance of virtually any aliphatic polymer material, and that could be used for the direct photopatterning of polyethylene-like materials for printed circuit boards in 5G and 6G devices, or of quantum dots for next-generation display technologies. Through rigorous structure–function studies, we improved the efficacy of these crosslinkers by over 10-fold, and also (rather accidentally) found that we could shift their activation wavelength from 365 nm into the edge of the visible spectrum. This observation in turn led to a reconsideration of the hybridization state of the diazirine’s central carbon atom. By thinking of this atom as sp²-hybridized rather than sp³-hybridized, we were able to create new diazirine–chromophore conjugates that could be activated using longer wavelengths of light, and—for the first time ever—be triggered through two-photon activation. While still at an early stage, these new findings suggest the ability to use diazirines for biological target identification inside of living organisms. 

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