4′-Alkoxy oligodeoxynucleotides: a novel class of RNA mimics†
Abstract
4′-Alkoxy-oligothymidylates were prepared as model compounds to study the influence of a C4′-alkoxy group on hybridisation. The phosphodiester homooligomers (15 units long) containing either a 4′-methoxy or 4′-(2-methoxyethoxy) group were found to display increased hybridisation with both dA15 and rA15 complementary counterparts compared to the natural oligothymidylate. In addition, we found their hybridisation behaviour to be similar to that of the regioisomeric 2′-O-methyl-oligothymidylate. The formed complexes (duplexes and triplexes) were studied using