Abstract
Methods for the chemical synthesis of RNA have been available for almost half century, and presently, RNA could be chemically synthesized by automated synthesizers, using protected ribonucleosides preactivated as phosphoramidites, which has already been covered by many reviews. In addition to advancement on synthetic methods, a variety of modifications have also been made on the synthesized oligonucleotides, and previous reviews on the general synthesis of RNAs have not covered this area. In this tutorial review, three types of modifications have been summarized standing at the viewpoint of medicinal chemistry: (1) modifications on nucleobase, comprising substituent introduction and replacement with pseudobase; (2) modifications on ribose, consisting of modifications on the 2’, 3’ or 5’-position, alternation of configuration, and conformational restriction on ribose; (3) modifications on internucleoside linkages, including amide, formacetal, sulfide, sulfone, ether, phosphorothiolate and phosphorothioate linkages. Synthetic methods achieving these modifications along with the functions or values of these modifications have also been discussed and commented on.
Keywords: Bioactive RNAs, small non-coding RNA, oligoribonucleotide, structural modification, chemical synthesis, nucleobase, pseudobase, ribose, conformational restriction, internucleoside linkage.
Related Journals
Current Pharmaceutical Design
Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry
Current Respiratory Medicine Reviews
Infectious Disorders - Drug Targets
Endocrine, Metabolic & Immune Disorders - Drug Targets
Anti-Infective Agents
Coronaviruses
Recent Advances in Inflammation & Allergy Drug Discovery
Current Probiotics
26