Jukka Mäki, Rainer Sjöholm and Leif Kronberg
Treatment of the nucleosides adenosine, guanosine and cytidine with mucochloric acid in slightly acid aqueous solutions at 37 °C affords oxalo-substituted etheno derivatives of nucleosides (2a, 3a and 4a). The derivatives are structurally characterised by UV, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. In addition, all the long-range 1H–13C couplings are assigned in the base moieties of the products. A plausible mechanism is presented for the formation of the products.