Chemical primer extension: Efficiently determining single nucleotides in DNA

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.200501794

Rapid replication: Non-enzymatic primer extension has previously been studied in the context of prebiotic chemistry, but not for practical applications. Reactions with primers featuring a 3′-amino-2′, 3′-dideoxy-nucleotide can be rapid and selective for all four templating nucleobases (see scheme). On a chip with immobilized capture strands, 500 fmol of template suffice for single-nucleotide determinations within 2.7 h.