Abstract

Abstract High‐throughput drug discovery is highly dependent on the targets available to accelerate the process of candidate screening. Unbiased drug target identification is of crucial importance to reveal the mechanisms of protein–drug interactions. In recent years, energetics‐based protein conformation methods have become an alternative strategy for protein target discovery of bioactive drugs. In this study, we present a novel tannin protein precipitation method (TAP) for identifying target proteins of small molecules using the effect on protein solubility of tannin. The feasibility of this method was validated using a drug model of methotrexate. It was found that the known target DHFR yields a significant solubility shift. This method was further investigated with Annexin A2, the target protein of protopanaxadiol (PPD)‐S by western blot, and by screening potential target proteins of PPD‐S in K562 cells by quantitative proteomics. Finally, the TAP method was employed to differentiate the target proteins of pair chiral molecules PPD‐S and PPD‐R, which can bring up novel insights into the mechanism of drug–protein interactions. This study not only provides an effective tool for drug research and development but also offers new ideas for understanding the mechanism of action of natural chiral bioactive compounds.