An Efficient Synthesis of a Heterobifunctional Coupling Agent

An efficient synthesis of 4-[(2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)methyl]-N-(6-{[6-({6-[(2,5-dioxopyrrolidin-1-yl)oxy]-6-oxohexyl}amino)-6-oxohexyl]amino}-6-oxohexyl)cyclohexanecarboxamide (12), a heterobifunctional coupling agent, was developed, which is critical for chemoselective conjugation of proteins and enzymes. The synthesis involved seven steps starting from 6-{[(benzyloxy)carbonyl]amino}hexanoic acid (1), and multigram quantities of coupling agent (12) were prepared using this protocol in excellent overall yield and 99.6% purity by reversed phase HPLC. The new method is suitable for the synthesis of coupling agent 12, consistently with purity >99%, and is useful for the preparation of other analogous coupling agents.