Glen Report 4-14: Literature Review

Silultaneous Synthesis of Multiple Oligonucleotides using Nucleoside-H-Phosphonate Intermediates

With the current heightened interest in DNA sequencing, it is probably timely to remember the potential of the segmented synthesis technique in which many oligonucleotides can be prepared simultaneously. A recent paper¹ applies H-phosphonate chemistry to this technique. The resulting oligonucleotides are prepared rapidly and efficiently, reminding us again of the simplicity and efficiency of H-phosphonate chemistry. The authors also describe a key advantage of H-phosphonate monomers in that excess activated monomer can be simply regenerated by hydrolyis and purified for re-use. The monomers are shown to be active and unmodified by the regeneration process.