Selective Metal-Mediated Arylation of Dichalcogenides in Biomolecules

Disclosed are chemical transformations for the conjugation of unprotected peptide biomolecules. The disclosed chemical transformations relate to methods of selective cysteine and selenocysteine functionalization of unprotected peptide and protein molecules. The processes feature several significant advantages over existing methods of peptide modification, including specificity towards selenocysteine over other nucleophiles (e.g., amines, hydroxyls), excellent functional group tolerance, and mild reaction conditions. Also disclosed are syntheses of arylated cysteine and arylated selenocysteine peptide compounds.