| Abstract: | RNA exhibits a higher structural diversity than DNA and is an important molecule in the biology of life. It shows a number of secondary structures such as duplexes, hairpin loops, bulges, internal loops, etc. However, in natural RNA, bases are limited to the four predominant structures U, C, A, and G and so the number of compounds that can be used for investigation of parameters of base stacking, base pairing, and hydrogen bond is limited. We synthesized different fluoromodifications of RNA building blocks: 1′-deoxy-1′-phenyl-β-d-ribofuranose (B), 1′-deoxy-1′-(4-fluorophenyl)-β-d-ribofuranose (4 FB), 1′-deoxy-1′-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-β-d-ribofuranose (2,4 DFB), 1′-deoxy-1′-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl)-β-d-ribofuranose (2,4,5 TFB), 1′-deoxy-1′-(2,4,6-trifluorophenyl)-β-d-ribofuranose, 1′-deoxy-1′-(pentafluorophenyl)-β-d-ribofuranose (PFB), 1′-deoxy-1′-(benzimidazol-1-yl)-β-d-ribofuranose (BI), 1′-deoxy-1′-(4-fluoro-1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)-β-d-ribofuranose (4 FBI), 1′-deoxy-1′-(6-fluoro-1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)-β-d-ribofuranose (6 FBI), 1′-deoxy-1′-(4,6-difluoro-1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)-β-d-ribofuranose (4,6 DFBI), 1′-deoxy-1′-(4-trifluoromethyl-1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)-β-d-ribofuranose (4 TFM), 1′-deoxy-1′-(5-trifluoromethyl-1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)-β-d-ribofuranose (5 TFM), and 1′-deoxy-1′-(6-trifluoromethyl-1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)-β-d-ribofuranose (6 TFM). These amidites were incorporated and tested in a defined A, U-rich RNA sequence (12-mer, 5′-CUU UUC XUU CUU-3′ paired with 3′-GAA AAG YAA GAA-5′). Only one position was modified, marked as X and Y, respectively. UV melting profiles of those oligonucleotides were measured. |
