P-Stereogenic bisphosphines with a hydrazine backbone: from N-N atropoisomerism to double nitrogen inversion

The synthesis of P-stereogenic bisphosphine ligands starting from a phosphinous acid chiral synthon and hydrazine is reported. The dialkylation of the hydrazine backbone yielded atropo- and nitrogeninversion isomers which are in slow exchange. The crystallization of one of the isomers allowed us to study the reaction kinetics of the equilibria. The new ligands were tested in the Rh catalysed asymmetric hydrogenation of various benchmark substrates attaining up to 99% ee

A New Architecture for DNA‐Templated Synthesis in Which Abasic Sites Protect Reactants from Degradation

The synthesis of artificial sequence‐defined polymers that match and extend the functionality of proteins is an important goal in materials science. One way of achieving this is to program a sequence of chemical reactions between precursor building blocks by means of attached oligonucleotide adapters. However, hydrolysis of the reactive building blocks has so far limited the length and yield of product that can be obtained using DNA‐templated reactions. Here, we report an architecture for DNA‐templated synthesis in which reactants are tethered at internal abasic sites on opposite strands of a DNA duplex. We show that an abasic site within a DNA duplex can protect a nearby thioester from degradation, significantly increasing the yield of a DNA‐templated reaction. This protective effect has the potential to overcome the challenges associated with programmable, sequence‐controlled synthesis of long non‐natural polymers by extending the lifetime of the reactive building blocks

A new architecture for DNA-templated synthesis in which abasic sites protect reactants from degradation

The synthesis of artificial sequence-defined polymers that match and extend the functionality of proteins is an important goal in materials science. One way of achieving this is to program a sequence of chemical reactions between precursor building blocks by means of attached oligonucleotide adapters. However, hydrolysis of the reactive building blocks has so far limited the length and yield of product that can be obtained using DNA-templated reactions. Here, we report an architecture for DNA-templated synthesis in which reactants are tethered at internal abasic sites on opposite strands of a DNA duplex. We show that an abasic site within a DNA duplex can protect a nearby thioester from degradation, significantly increasing the yield of a DNA-templated reaction. This protective effect has the potential to overcome the challenges associated with programmable sequence-controlled synthesis of long non-natural polymers by extending the lifetime of the reactive building blocks

A New Architecture for DNA‐Templated Synthesis in Which Abasic Sites Protect Reactants from Degradation

The synthesis of artificial sequence‐defined polymers that match and extend the functionality of proteins is an important goal in materials science. One way of achieving this is to program a sequence of chemical reactions between precursor building blocks by means of attached oligonucleotide adapters. However, hydrolysis of the reactive building blocks has so far limited the length and yield of product that can be obtained using DNA‐templated reactions. Here, we report an architecture for DNA‐templated synthesis in which reactants are tethered at internal abasic sites on opposite strands of a DNA duplex. We show that an abasic site within a DNA duplex can protect a nearby thioester from degradation, significantly increasing the yield of a DNA‐templated reaction. This protective effect has the potential to overcome the challenges associated with programmable, sequence‐controlled synthesis of long non‐natural polymers by extending the lifetime of the reactive building blocks

P-Stereogenic bisphosphines with a hydrazine backbone: from N-N atropoisomerism to double nitrogen inversion

The synthesis of P-stereogenic bisphosphine ligands starting from a phosphinous acid chiral synthon and hydrazine is reported. The dialkylation of the hydrazine backbone yielded atropo- and nitrogeninversion isomers which are in slow exchange. The crystallization of one of the isomers allowed us to study the reaction kinetics of the equilibria. The new ligands were tested in the Rh catalysed asymmetric hydrogenation of various benchmark substrates attaining up to 99% ee

Lipid-modified oligonucleotide conjugates: Insights into gene silencing, interaction with model membranes and cellular uptake mechanisms

The ability of oligonucleotides to silence specific genes or inhibit the biological activity of specific proteins has generated great interest in their use as research tools and therapeutic agents. Unfortunately, their biological applications meet the limitation of their poor cellular accessibility. Developing an appropriate delivery system for oligonucleotides is essential to achieve their efficient cellular uptake. In the present work a series of phosphorothioate lipid–oligonucleotide hybrids were synthesized introducing covalently single or double lipid tails at both 3′- and 5′-termini of an antisense oligonucleotide. Gene transfections in cultured cells showed antisense luciferase inhibition without the use of a transfecting agent for conjugates modified with the double-lipid tail at 5′-termini. The effect of the double lipid-tailed modification was further studied in detail in several model membrane systems as well as in cellular uptake experiments. During these studies the spontaneous formation of self-assembled microstructures is clearly observed. Lipidation allowed the efficient incorporation of the oligonucleotide in HeLa cells by a macropinocytosis mechanism without causing cytotoxicity in cells or altering the binding properties of the oligonucleotide conjugates. In addition, both single- and double-tailed compounds showed a similar behavior in lipid model membranes, making them useful in nucleotide-based technologies. © 2016 Elsevier LtdThis work is supported by the European Commission (Grants FP7- NMP-213382-2, FUNMOL and NMP4-LA-2011-262943, MULTIFUN), by the Spanish Ministry of Education (Grant CTQ2014-52588-R, CTQ2014-61758-EXP and BFU2012-36241), the Generalitat de Catalunya (2009/SGR/208) and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CB06_01_0019). CIBER-BBN is an initiative funded by the VI National R&D&i Plan 2008-2011, Iniciativa Ingenio 2010, Consolider Program, CIBER Actions and financed by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund.Peer reviewe