Uranyl Ion as a Highly Effective Catalyst for Internucleotide Bond Formation

Article abstract of DOI:10.1246/bcsj.62.2018

Uranyl ion catalyzes the polymerization of adenosine-5'-phosphorimidazolide very efficiently in aqueous solution.Up to 95percent of the imput adenosine-5'-phosphorimidazolide is converted to oligoadenilates from dimer to hexadecamer when 1mM of UO(2+) is used as a catalyst.The oligomeric products are predominantly 2'-5' linked.The chain length and the regioselectivity of the resulting oligoadenylates varies greatly with the concentration of the UO(2+) ion catalyst and the pH of the reaction medium.A high total yield of oligouridyllates up to dodecamer is also obtained by UO(2+) ion catalyst with high 2'-5' regioselectivity.The oligonucleotide formation is mediated by UO(2+)-nucleotide complex.