Synthesis and Biophysical Properties of Phosphorodiamidate Piperidino Oligomers.

We report the synthesis of piperidino nucleoside phosphoramidates functionalized with uracil, cytosine, guanine, and adenine and their incorporation into oligomers. High-performance liquid chromatography analyses demonstrated that a phosphorodiamidate piperidino oligomer (PPO) is more lipophilic than a phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PMO) of the same tetrameric sequence. A PMO containing piperidino residues formed duplexes with both DNA and RNA, and the PPO had higher stability at endosomolytic pH and higher hydrophobicity than the PMO.

RNAs Containing Carbocyclic Ribonucleotides.

Toward the goal of evaluation of carbocyclic ribonucleoside-containing oligonucleotide therapeutics, we developed convenient, scalable syntheses of all four carbocyclic ribonucleotide phosphoramidites and the uridine solid-support building block. Crystallographic analysis confirmed configuration and stereochemistry of these building blocks. Duplexes with carbocyclic RNA (car-RNA) modifications in one strand were less thermodynamically stable than duplexes with unmodified RNA.

Chirality matters: stereo-defined phosphorothioate linkages at the termini of small interfering RNAs improve pharmacology in vivo.

A critical challenge for the successful development of RNA interference-based therapeutics therapeutics has been the enhancement of their in vivo metabolic stability. In therapeutically relevant, fully chemically modified small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), modification of the two terminal phosphodiester linkages in each strand of the siRNA duplex with phosphorothioate (PS) is generally sufficient to protect against exonuclease degradation in vivo. Since PS linkages are chiral, we systematically studied the properties of siRNAs containing single chiral PS linkages at each strand terminus.

siRNAs containing 2'-fluorinated Northern-methanocarbacyclic (2'-F-NMC) nucleotides: in vitro and in vivo RNAi activity and inability of mitochondrial polymerases to incorporate 2'-F-NMC NTPs.

We recently reported the synthesis of 2'-fluorinated Northern-methanocarbacyclic (2'-F-NMC) nucleotides, which are based on a bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane scaffold.

Synthesis of 2'-Fluorinated Northern Methanocarbacyclic (2'-F-NMC) Nucleosides and Their Incorporation Into Oligonucleotides.

This article describes chemical synthesis of 2'-fluorinated Northern methanocarbacyclic (2'-F-NMC) nucleosides and phosphoramidites, based on a bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane scaffold bearing all four natural nucleobases (U, C, A, and G), and their incorporation into oligonucleotides by solid-supported synthesis.

Synthesis and Biophysical Characterization of RNAs Containing 2'-Fluorinated Northern Methanocarbacyclic Nucleotides.

2'-Fluorinated Northern methanocarbacyclic (2'-F-NMC) nucleosides and phosphoramidites, based on a bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane scaffold bearing all four natural nucleobases (U, C, A, and G), were synthesized to enable exploration of this novel nucleotide modification related to the clinically validated 2'-deoxy-2'-fluororibonucleotides (2'-F-RNA).

Total Syntheses of Bulgecins A, B, and C and Their Bactericidal Potentiation of the β-Lactam Antibiotics.

The bulgecins are iminosaccharide secondary metabolites of the Gram-negative bacterium Paraburkholderia acidophila and inhibitors of lytic transglycosylases of bacterial cell-wall biosynthesis and remodeling. The activities of the bulgecins are intimately intertwined with the mechanism of a cobiosynthesized β-lactam antibiotic. β-Lactams inhibit the penicillin-binding proteins, enzymes also critical to cell-wall biosynthesis.

Synthesis of oligonucleotides containing N,N-disubstituted 3-deazacytosine nucleobases by post-elongation modification and their triplex-forming ability with double-stranded DNA.

A phosphoramidite of a 2'-O,4'-C-methylene-bridged nucleoside, bearing 4-(2,4,6-triisopropylbenzenesulfonyloxy)pyridin-2-one as a nucleobase precursor, was synthesized and introduced into an oligonucleotide. Treatment with various secondary amines after elongating the oligonucleotide on an automated DNA synthesizer enabled facile and mild conversion of the precursor into the corresponding N,N-disubstituted 3-deazacytosine nucleobases. The evaluation of the triplex-forming ability of the synthesized oligonucleotides with double-stranded DNA showed that the nucleobase possessing the (3S)-3-guanidinopyrrolidine moiety can recognize a CG base pair with high sequence-selectivity and binding-affinity.

Kinetic study of the binding of triplex-forming oligonucleotides containing partial cationic modifications to double-stranded DNA.

Several triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) partially modified with 2'-O-(2-aminoethyl)- or 2'-O-(2-guanidinoethyl)-nucleotides were synthesized and their association rate constants (kon) with double-stranded DNA were estimated by UV spectrophotometry. Introduction of cationic modifications in the 5'-region of the TFOs significantly increased the kon values compared to that of natural TFO, while no enhancement in the rate of triplex DNA formation was observed when the modifications were in the middle and at the 3'-region. The kon value of a TFO with three adjacent cationic modifications at the 5'-region was found to be 3.