“…To develop improved bioorthogonal IED-DA reactions, we were drawn to triazine scaffolds. 1,2,4-Triazines have been identified in microbial natural products and pigments, suggesting that they are stable in physiological environments. − These motifs also react efficiently with electron-rich alkenes in IED-DA reactions. − Boger further showed that 1,2,3-triazines react with electron-rich dienophiles . To compare the intrinsic DA reactivities of 1,2,3- and 1,2,4-triazines with that of 1,2,4,5-tetrazine, we evaluated the activation free energies for their reactions with ethylene by density functional theory (DFT) calculations (Figure A, Table S1).…”