Oligonucleotides Incorporating Palladacyclic Nucleobase Surrogates

Sajal Kumar Maity; Tuomas Lönnberg

doi:10.1002/chem.201705797

Oligonucleotides Incorporating Palladacyclic Nucleobase Surrogates

Chemistry. 2018 Jan 26;24(6):1274-1277. doi: 10.1002/chem.201705797. Epub 2018 Jan 11.

Authors

Sajal Kumar Maity¹, Tuomas Lönnberg¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Turku, Vatselankatu 2, 20014, Turku, Finland.

PMID: 29227000
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201705797

Abstract

An oligonucleotide incorporating a palladacyclic nucleobase has been prepared by ligand-directed metalation of a phenylpyridine moiety. This oligonucleotide hybridized with natural counterparts placing any of the canonical nucleobases opposite to the palladacyclic residue. The palladated duplexes had B-type conformation and melting temperatures comparable to those of respective unmodified duplexes with a single mismatch. In the duplexes placing C, G or T (but not A) opposite to the palladacyclic residue, greatly increased absorptivity suggested formation of a Pd^II -mediated base pair. Absorptivity and ellipticity of these duplexes persisted even at the highest temperatures applicable in T_m and CD experiments (90 °C). Evidently the Pd^II -mediated base pairs do not dissociate under the experimental conditions.

Keywords: base pairs; hybridization; oligonucleotides; organometallic complexes; palladacycles; palladium.