Automated oligoribonucleotide synthesis on silica gel supports

Commercialization of automated RNA synthesis - Twenty years on

Following the introduction of the first successful automated DNA synthesizer by Applied Biosystems Inc. (ABI) in 1983, the company was in a position to consider the commercialization of additional chemistries to enable the automated synthesis of RNA oligonucleotides or other analogs. This retrospective account provides a personal view of how ABI collaborated with Professor Kelvin K. Ogilvie in 1986 to commercialize automated RNA synthesis, using the 2′-O-alkylsilyl-protected monomers that he pioneered. The influence of end-user scientific applications on this decision-making process is highlighted, together with the influence of such applications on subsequent commoditization of RNA. Hopefully, these perspectives will provide chemists with further appreciation of the sometime complex and unpredictable interplay between academically interesting chemistry and evolving scientific applications that influence commercialization, and vice versa.Key words: RNA, synthesis, automated, 2′-O-alkylsilyl phosphoramidite, siRNA.