Yet another review of caged compounds!?

My review of the chemistry and biology of caged compounds was published today, 30th June, in Nature Methods. The difference between this and all the other reviews of this field is that I chose to focus only on compounds that 1. are the most widely used (tested by many labs/expts.), 2. really work in cells, and 3. are commercially available. The review is mainly intended for biologists who have not used caged compounds. The first part of the review gives an idea how difficult it is to make these compounds (I am often asked: "How long does it take you to make a gramme of that compound Graham, one or two days?"). The second part of the review summarises how these caged compounds can be used with living cells. I want to thank my editor at Nature Methods, Dr. Dan Evanko, for all his help in preparing this review.

Caged compounds: photorelease technology for control of cellular chemistry and physiology. Nature Methods (2007) 4:619 - 628.
Published online: 30 July 2007 | doi:10.1038/nmeth1072