4-Aminometyl-3-Nitrobenzoic Acid—A Photocleavable Linker for Oligonucleotides Containing Combinatorial Libraries

Abstract

We detail the design, synthesis, and characterization of an o-nitrobenzyl–based photolabile linker containing amine and carboxyl anchor groups. A model nucleoside monomer modified with an imidazole residue and a precursor unit linked to a heterocyclic base through a photolabile tether is constructed. Upon UV irradiation (313–365 nm), the imidazole containing part of this molecule is released.

Keywords:

• Modified Nucleosides
• Photolabile Linker
• Combinatorial Libraries

This work was supported by the Russian Fund for Fundamental Research, Grants No 02-04-48664a, 03-04-48562a, 04-04-48566a, and 04-03-32490a. Authors are grateful to Dr. D. Kolpashchikov (Columbia University, New York) for fruitful discussion and Eric Green (Columbia University, New York) for careful reading of the manuscript.