Recent progress in diazirine-based photoaffinity labeling

As a result of recent developments in molecular biology, the investigation of biofunctional machinery at ligand-accepting interfaces has become one of the challenging and important subjects in the post-genome field. The technique of photoaffinity labeling has become increasingly appreciated as a powerful methodology for this purpose. This microreview focuses on the synthesis of 3-phenyl-3-(trifluoromethyl)diazirine, one of the most promising photophores, and its application to biomolecules. ((c) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008).