Generally, oximation reactions are performed by reacting the ketone with hydroxylammonium chloride (NH3OH−Cl+) under heat in the presence of a base such as pyridine.

[19] On the other hand, trifluoroaryldiazirines in particular show favorable stability and photolytic qualities[19] and are most commonly used in biological applications.

[1] Carbenes produced from diazirines are quickly quenched by reaction with water molecules,[20] and hence yields for photoreactive crosslinking assays are often low.

Diazirines are often used as photoreactive crosslinking reagents, as the reactive carbenes they form upon irradiation with UV light can insert into C-H, N-H, and O-H bonds.

However, studies have found that diazirines have some pH dependence in labeling preferences, favoring acidic residues such as glutamate.

[24] Aryl azides require a low wavelength of irradiation, which can damage the biological macromolecules under investigation.

This is because diazirine-containing analogs of various ligands can be synthesized and incubated with their respective receptors, and then subsequently exposed to light to produce reactive carbenes.

The protein can then be digested and sequenced by mass spectrometry in order to identify which residues the carbene containing ligand is bound to, and hence the identity of the binding site in the receptor.