Synthesis of 2'-substituted MMI linked nucleosidic dimers: an optimization study in search of high affinity oligonucleotides for use in antisense constructs.

The synthesis of a series of methylene(methylimino) (MMI) linked oligodeoxyribonucleotide dimers modified at the 2'-position with fluoro and/or methoxy groups and their incorporation into different sequences has been accomplished. From these dimers, bis 2'-OMe MMI dimer was selected for further studies based on its synthetic accessibility and the increased thermodynamic stability conferred upon oligonucleotides incorporating this modification.

Conformational study of DNA-RNA duplexes containing MMI substituted phosphodiester linkages by FTIR spectroscopy.

Six methylene(methylimino) (MMI, Bhat et al. J. Org.

High-field NMR and restrained molecular modeling studies on a DNA heteroduplex containing a modified apurinic abasic site in the form of covalently linked 9-aminoellipticine.

Two-dimensional NMR methods were used to model the possible solution structure of an intercalative complex of 9-aminoellipticine (Aell), a polycyclic pyridocarbazolamine, covalently bound to an apurinic ring-opened deoxyribose site of a duplex DNA fragment in the reduced Schiff base form. The required oligonucleotide single strand containing covalently attached aminoellipticine was obtained by reductive amination in the presence of sodium cyanoborohydride. The combined NMR-energy minimization methods were employed to refine the model structures of two distinct forms, intrahelical and extrahelical, of a control 9-mer duplex DNA, d(CGTG.