A series of6-(
![](/images/gifchars/omega.gif)
-methanesulfonylthioalkoxy)-2-
N-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoqui
nolines(
7a-d) wasprepared and characterized as SH-reactive molecular yardsticks usefulin probing
2-adrenergicreceptors. Rapid displacement of the methanesulfonyl group by acysteine residue in dilute aqueoussolution with concomitant formation of a disulfide conjugate wasverified by MALDI-TOF massspectrometric analysis of the reaction of
7a with acysteine-containing decapeptide.
7a-d all showeda marked affinity for the three different variants of human
2-adrenergic receptors: H
2Awt,H
2Bwt, and mutant H
2ASer201Cys197. However, onlythe mutated receptor (H
2ASer201Cys197)wasirreversibly inactivated, and the extent of inactivation in this casewas linearly dependent on thelength of the side chain of
7a-d.These results show that the molecular yardstick approachtestedhere can provide useful information for modeling receptorproteins.