Automated high-content imaging for cellular uptake, from the Schmuck cation to the latest cyclic oligochalcogenides

• Rémi Martinent,
• Javier López-Andarias,
• Dimitri Moreau,
• Yangyang Cheng,
• Naomi Sakai and
• Stefan Matile

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2007–2016, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.167

• chemistry tools to deliver into living cells has seen a shift of attention from counterion-mediated uptake of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) and their mimics, particularly the Schmuck cation, toward thiol-mediated uptake with cell-penetrating poly(disulfide)s (CPDs) and cyclic oligochalcogenides (COCs

• ; thiol-mediated uptake; Introduction The effective delivery of substrates of free choice into cells with minimal endosomal capture on the one hand and a minimal toxicity on the other remains one of the grand challenges in science [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. This

• depolymerization as soon as they reach the cytosol, and their endosomal capture is minimal because they enter cells by thiol-mediated uptake (Figure 4) [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]. This mechanism operates by dynamic covalent disulfide exchange on the cell surface and on the way into the cell