Chemically stabilized phenylboranylidene groups having a dimethoxytrityl group as a colorimetrically detectable protecting group designed for cis-1,2-diol functions of ribonucleosides in the solid-phase synthesis of m2(2,2)G5'ppT.

To not only improve the inherently poor stability of the phenylboranylidene group as a protecting group of the 2',3'-cis-diol function of ribonucleosides but also introduce a colorimetrically detectable function into its mother structure, various 2-[(dialkylamino)methyl]phenylboronic acid derivatives having a [(4,4'-dimethoxytrityl)oxy]methyl group were synthesized. The reaction of uridine with these substituted phenylboronic acid derivatives gave the corresponding 2',3'-O-phenylboranylideneuridine derivatives. The stability of these phenylboranylidene groups was examined. As a result, it was shown that the steric hindrance around the amino group greatly influenced the stability of the 2-substituted phenylboranylidene groups. The 2-aminomethyl-5-[[(4,4'-dimethoxytrityl)oxy]methyl]phenylboranylidene group was the most stable. Its 2-dimethylamino counterpart, the 2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]-5-[[(4,4'-dimethoxytrityl)oxy]methyl]phenylboranylidene group, was the second most stable. When the most and second stable protecting groups were applied to the synthesis of m(2)(2,2)G(5)(')ppT on controlled pore glass, the second stable protecting group showed the best result. The use of this DMTr-containing protecting group enabled us to estimate colorimetrically the amount of the m(2)(2,2)G residue that was incorporated into the reactive site of the pT-loaded CPG resin.

A new 2',3'-cis diol protecting group required for the solid-phase synthesis of capped oligonucleotide derivatives.

New 2',3'-cis-diol protecting groups of methylated G-capping reagents required for the solid-phase synthesis of capped oligonucleotide derivatives were designed so as to have a phenylborate skeleton with an alkylaminomethyl substituent and a DMTr group. The former can stabilize the boronic ester function. The latter led to significant enhancement of the solubility of the capping building units and the spectrometric assay of the DMTr cation generated upon acid treatment of capped products on solid supports enabled us to estimate easily the coupling yield of the 5'-capping reaction. The utility of these protecting groups are discussed.

A new method for the synthesis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing 4-N-alkoxycarbonyldeoxycytidine derivatives and their hybridization properties.

Oligodeoxyribonucleotides incorporating 4-N-alkoxycarbonyldeoxycytidine derivatives were synthesized on polystyrene-type ArgoPore resins having a new benzyloxy(diisopropyl)silyl linker, by use of ZnBr(2) as the detritylating agent. The first 3'-terminal thymidine could be attached to the resin by successive in situ reactions of 5'-O-DMTr-thymidine with diisopropylsilanediyl ditriflate and an ArgoPore resin containing hydroxyl groups. The use of this new silanediyl-type linker allowed release of the DNA chain from the resin by treatment with TBAF under neutral conditions. The T(m) experiments apparently showed that incorporation of 4-N-alkoxycarbonyldeoxycytidines into DNA strands resulted in higher hybridization affinity with the complementary DNA strands than that of 4-N-acyldeoxycytidines. In addition, comparable T(m) studies using oligodeoxyribonucleotides incorporating acyl (RC(O)-) groups and alkoxyacyl (RO(CH(2))(n)C(O)-) groups having the same chain length show that the latter tend to exhibit higher T(m) values than the former. It turned out that 4-N-alkoxycarbonyldeoxycytidines can form base pairs not only with deoxyguanosine but also with deoxyadenosine. Based on the ab initio calculations of the hydrogen bond energies of the possible base pairs formed between 4-N-methoxycarbonyl-1-methylcytosine and 9-methyladenine and the NMR analysis of the base-pairs of (15)N-labeled 4-N-alkoxycarbonyldeoxycytidines with deoxyadenosine derivatives, we conclude that the base pair involves two unique hydrogen bonds between the cytosyl 4-NH group and the adenyl N(1) atom and between the O atom of the ester group and the adenyl 6-NH group.