Brans, Alain[Université de Liège - ULg > > Centre d'ingénierie des protéines - GIGA-Management : Plate-forme production protéines >]
Grubisic, Stana[Université de Liège - ULg > Services administratifs généraux > Protection et hygiène du travail (SUPHT) >]
Joris, Bernard[Université de Liège - ULg > Département des sciences de la vie > Physiologie et génétique bactériennes - Centre d'ingénierie des protéines >]
[en] Despite the large number of articles and patents dealing with penicillin and other b-lactam antibiotics, there have been no reports about the self-assembly of such substances as monolayers on gold surfaces. The main reason stems from the high reactivity of the b-lactam ring, which hinders the development of molecules possessing this entity together with a metal-anchoring function. Herein, we present the synthesis of a novel molecule, 6-[(R,S)-5-(1,2-dithiolan-3-yl)pentanoyl-amino]-penicillanic acid, which combines the b-lactam ring and a metal-anchoring group. Using spectroscopic tools, we demonstrate the chemisorption of this compound on gold as self-assembled monolayers without any alteration of the penicillin pharmacophore and document its
reactivity towards a penicillin-binding protein, BlaR-CTD. Our work is a preliminary step towards the development of new biosensors and well-ordered protein arrays, both based on the high affinity of penicillin for penicillin-binding proteins.