Late-Stage Conversion of Diphenylphosphonate to Fluorophosphonate Probes for the Investigation of Serine Hydrolases (Cell Chemical Biology)

Investigations of serine hydrolases continue to be advanced by small-molecule probes. d`Andrea et al. describe a mild, two-step conversion of modestly electrophilic diphenylphosphonate substrate mimics to the corresponding, potently reactive methylfluorophosphonate. Rapid inactivation of the dual-function epimerase/thioesterase in nocardicin biosynthesis illustrates the method`s potential toward probes of other serine hydrolases.