Scalable synthesis of γ-thiolysine starting from lysine and a side by side comparison with δ-thiolysine in non-enzymatic ubiquitination

We developed a scalable synthesis of gamma-thiolysine starting straight from lysine. The application of gamma-thiolysine was compared to delta-thiolysine in the chemical synthesis of K48 and K33 linked diubiquitin conjugates. Both gamma- and delta-thiolysine were found to perform equally efficiently as handles for nonenzymatic ubiquitination.