Synthesis of phosphorofluoridates and phosphorofluoridothioates via the phosphoramidite approach

Synthesis of 5’-fluorophosphate-modified short-interfering RNAs

We have developed an improved scheme for the synthesis of a mono-fluorinated phosphoramidite for the 5'-modification of nucleic acids using standard phosphoramidite chemistry. We describe the first report of a phosphofluoridate modified siRNA strand and have evaluated C18 HPLC for purification of modified strands from unreacted siRNA strands. Lastly, the biological activity of the high purity siRNA strands, when placed on the sense and/or antisense strand, was evaluated to assess the impact of 5' phosphofluoridate modifications on siRNA activity.

Fluorinative hydrolysis of phosphorothioic acid esters with a binaphthyl group through axis-to-center chirality transfer leading to the formation of P-chiral phosphorothioic monofluoridic acid salts

Asymmetric synthesis of P-chiral phosphorothioic monofluoridic acid ammonium salts was achieved via axis-to-center chirality transfer reactions by using phosphorothioic acid O-esters with a binaphthyl group, and the absolute stereochemistry of the salts was determined by X-ray analyses and by comparison of their CD spectra.

Azide phosphoramidite in direct synthesis of azide-modified oligonucleotides

Azide and phosphoramidite functions were found to be compatible within one molecule and stable for months in solution kept frozen at -20 °C. An azide-carrying phosphoramidite was used for direct introduction of multiple azide modifications into synthetic oligonucleotides. A series of azide-containing oligonucleotides were modified further using click reactions with alkynes.