Synthesis of Glycol Nucleic Acids

Abstract

Starting from glycidol, the synthesis of dimethoxytrityl­ated glycol nucleoside phosphoramidites of adenine (A), thymine (T), uracil (U), guanine (G), and cytosine (C) is reported. These phosphoramidites are the building blocks for the automated solid phase synthesis of glycol nucleic acids (GNA) oligonucleotides and it is demonstrated that derived GNA duplexes with completely acyclic backbones considerably exceed the thermal stabilities of analogous DNA duplexes.

Key words

GNA - glycol nucleic acid - glycol nucleotides - acyclic nucleic acid backbone - epoxide ring opening

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