title: Porphyrin substituted phosphoramidites: new building blocks for porphyrin-oligonucleotide syntheses.
abstract: Thymidine phosphoramidites containing trispyridylphenyl and tetraphenylporphyrin chromophores attached via a short amide linker in the 3'-position have been synthesized and used as building blocks in solid-phase synthesis of self-complementary 8-mer oligonucleotides 3'-T-5'-GCGCGCA-3' and 5'-ACGCGCGT-3'. To our knowledge, these are the first porphyrin-oligonucleotide conjugates carrying the porphyrin chromophores in the 3'-position. Chain assembly was achieved by automated solid-phase synthesis and by inexpensive straightforward 'in flask' modification of commercially available solid supported oligonucleotides. This approach allows the synthesis of modified oligonucleotides without using costly instrumentation for automated DNA synthesis. Porphyrin-containing self-complementary oligonucleotides are expected to be a valuable model for drug binding studies and determination of conformational changes in DNA sequences using circular dichroism.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, Department of Chemistry, 3000 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Milan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balaz
authors.forename: Andrea E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benedetti
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Proni
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Berova
mesh_terms: D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D011166:Porphyrins / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D013936:Thymidine / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds; D011166:Porphyrins; C434331:phosphoramidite; D013936:Thymidine