Diazirine Linker

Diazirine linkers represent a class of photo-crosslinking tools used in biomedical research to irreversibly capture biomolecular interactions. Their core structure features a light-active diazirine ring that, upon irradiation with specific ultraviolet wavelengths (typically 330–370 nm), decomposes to generate a highly reactive carbene intermediate. This carbene can form stable covalent bonds with neighboring biomolecules by inserting into C–H, N–H, or O–H bonds, enabling the “freezing” and analysis of transient interactions such as protein–protein or protein–small molecule binding. Requiring no pre-installed functional groups and exhibiting excellent cell membrane permeability, this technology has become essential in chemical proteomics, target identification, and live-cell labeling studies.