Nucleotide glycosidation

In solid phase synthesis (SPS) of biopolymers, the peptide/nucleotide/glycoside chain is assembled in the nsnal manner (conventional approach) from the C-/3 -/NR-end. The first monomer unit of the biopolymer to be synthesized is connected via its car-boxyl/hydroxyl/hydroxyl gronp to an insoluble polymer. A necessary prerequisite is that anchoring groups (linkers) are introdnced into the polymeric material (step 1). The first protected monomer is then reacted with the functional gronp of the linker (step 2). The... 

All the approaches for deblocking protective groups described earlier in this book have found application in the removal of protective groups from phosphorus derivatives. Because phosphate protection and deprotection are commonly associated with compounds that contain acid-sensitive sites (e.g., glycosidic linkages and DMTr-O- groups of nucleotides), the most widely used protective groups on phosphorus are those that are deblocked by base. 

Posttranslational modification of preformed polynucleotides can generate additional bases such as pseudouridine, in which D-ribose is linked to C-5 of uracil by a carbon-to-carbon bond rather than by a P-N-glycosidic bond. The nucleotide pseudouridylic acid T arises by rearrangement of UMP of a preformed tRNA. Similarly, methylation by S-adenosylmethionine of a UMP of preformed tRNA forms TMP (thymidine monophosphate), which contains ribose rather than de-oxyribose. 

The difficulties of implementing glycosidic bonds between the nucleotides under the conditions present on the primeval Earth The inability to achieve double-sided, non-enzymatic matrix polymerisation... 

Majumdar, D. and Boons, G.-J. (2005) Handbook of Reagents for Organic Synthesis Reagentsfor Glycoside Nucleotide, and Peptide Synthesis (ed. D. Crich), Wiley, Chichester, pp. 11-15. 

Potentially tautomeric pyrimidines and purines are /V-alkylated under two-phase conditions, using tetra-n-butylammonium bromide or Aliquat as the catalyst [75-77], Alkylation of, for example, uracil, thiamine, and cytosine yield the 1-mono-and 1,3-dialkylated derivatives [77-81]. Theobromine and other xanthines are alkylated at N1 and/or at N3, but adenine is preferentially alkylated at N9 (70-80%), with smaller amounts of the N3-alkylated derivative (20-25%), under the basic two-phase conditions [76]. These observations should be compared with the preferential alkylation at N3 under neutral conditions. The procedure is of importance in the derivatization of nucleic acids and it has been developed for the /V-alkylation of nucleosides and nucleotides using haloalkanes or trialkyl phosphates in the presence of tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride [80], Under analogous conditions, pyrimidine nucleosides are O-acylated [79]. The catalysed alkylation reactions have been extended to the glycosidation of pyrrolo[2,3-r/]pyrimidines, pyrrolo[3,2-c]pyridines, and pyrazolo[3,4-r/]pyrimidines (e.g. Scheme 5.20) [e.g. 82-88] as a route to potentially biologically active azapurine analogues. 

A common intermediate for all the nucleotides is 5-phosphoribosyl-l-diphosphate (PRPP), produced by successive ATP-dependent phosphorylations of ribose. This has an a-diphosphate leaving group that can be displaced in Sn2 reactions. Similar Sn2 reactions have been seen in glycoside synthesis (see Section 12.4) and biosynthesis (see Box 12.4), and for the synthesis of aminosugars (see Section 12.9). For pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis, the nucleophile is the 1-nitrogen of uracil-6-carboxylic acid, usually called orotic acid. The product is the nucleotide orotidylic acid, which is subsequently decarboxylated to the now recognizable uridylic acid (UMP). 

The base adenine is bound to C-1 of ribose by an N-glycosidic bond (see p.36). In addition to C-2 to C-4, C-1 of ribose also represents a chiral center. The p-configuration is usually found in nucleotides. 

---