Dansyl chloride or 5-(DimethylAmino)Naphthalene-1-SulfonYL chloride is a reagent that reacts with primary amino groups in both aliphatic and aromatic amines to produce stable blue- or blue-green–

fluorescent Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, tha ...

sulfonamide adducts. It can also be made to react with secondary amines. Dansyl chloride is widely used to modify amino acids; specifically,

protein sequencing Protein sequencing is the practical process of determining the amino acid sequence of all or part of a protein or peptide. This may serve to identify the protein or characterize its post-translational modifications. Typically, partial sequencing o ...

and

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

analysis. Dansyl chloride may also be denoted DNSC. Likewise, a similar derivative, dansyl amide is known as DNSA. In addition, these protein-DNSC conjugates are sensitive to their immediate environment. This, in combination with their ability to accept energy (as in

fluorescence resonance energy transfer Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, tha ...

) from the amino acid

tryptophan Tryptophan (symbol Trp or W) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Tryptophan contains an α-amino group, an α- carboxylic acid group, and a side chain indole, making it a polar molecule with a non-polar aromatic ...

, allows this labeling technique to be used in investigating protein folding and dynamics. The fluorescence of these

sulfonamide In organic chemistry, the sulfonamide functional group (also spelled sulphonamide) is an organosulfur group with the structure . It consists of a sulfonyl group () connected to an amine group (). Relatively speaking this group is unreactive. ...

adducts can be enhanced by adding alpha-cyclodextrin. Dansyl chloride is unstable in

dimethyl sulfoxide Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is an organosulfur compound with the formula ( CH3)2. This colorless liquid is the sulfoxide most widely used commercially. It is an important polar aprotic solvent that dissolves both polar and nonpolar compounds a ...

, which should never be used to prepare solutions of the reagent. The extinction coefficient of dansyl derivatives are important for measuring their concentration in solution. Dansyl chloride is one of the simplest sulfonamide derivatives, so it commonly serves as a starting reagent for the production of other derivatives. Exotic derivatives may have very different extinction coefficients, but others, such as dansyl amide, are similar to dansyl chloride in absorption and fluorescence characteristics. But even for dansyl chloride, there are a variety of extinction coefficient values that have been reported. Some of the values are used to estimate the extent of success in attempts to conjugate the dye to a protein. Other values may be used to determine a precise concentration of a stock solution. See the table below for specific values and their uses. For all of the studies below, the absorption value is always taken at the ''maximum'' that appears between 310 nm and 350 nm. The peak is broad, so the measurement is not very sensitive to wavelength miscalibration of the spectrophotometer, and error due to miscalibration can be avoided by taking the value at the maximum instead of strictly using 330 nm.

Preparation

This compound may be prepared by reacting the corresponding sulfonic acid with excess

phosphorus oxychloride Phosphoryl chloride (commonly called phosphorus oxychloride) is a colourless liquid with the formula . It hydrolyses in moist air releasing phosphoric acid and fumes of hydrogen chloride. It is manufactured industrially on a large scale from phosp ...

(POCl₃) at room temperature.

References

{{reflist Chemical tests Reagents for organic chemistry Sulfonyl halides Naphthalenes Dimethylamino compounds