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This article covers the triazole-linked nucleic acids where the triazole linkage (TL) replaces the natural phosphate backbone. The replacement is done at either a few selected linkages or all the phosphate linkages. Two triazole linkages, the four-atom TL1 and the six-atom TL2, have been discussed in detail. These triazole-modified oligonucleotides have found a wide range of applications, from therapeutics to synthetic biology. For example, the triazole-linked oligonucleotides have been used in the antisense oligonucleotide (ASO), small interfering RNA (siRNA) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 technology as therapeutic agents. Due to the ease of the synthesis and a wide range of biocompatibility, the triazole linkage TL2 has been used to assemble a functional 300-mer DNA from alkyne- and azide-functionalized 100-mer oligonucleotides as well as an epigenetically modified variant of a 335 base-pair gene from ten short oligonucleotides. These outcomes highlight the potential of triazole-linked nucleic acids and open the doors for other TL designs and artificial backbones to fully exploit the vast potential of artificial nucleic acids in therapeutics, synthetic biology and biotechnology., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

A series of eight N 1 -(2'-O,4'-C-methylene-β-D-ribofuranonucleoside-3'-yl)-C 4 -(coumarin-7-oxymethyl)-1,2,3-triazoles have been synthesized by Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction of 3'-azido-3'-deoxy-2'-O,4'-C-methyleneuridine and 3'-azido-3'-deoxy-2'-O,4'-C-methylene-5-methyluridine with 7-propargyloxy coumarins in 82-88% yields. The synthesized coumarintriazolyl-bicyclonucleoside conjugates possess an extra bridge between 2'-O and 4'-C in the nucleoside moiety, which facilitates its pre-organization into N-type sugar puckering. This was confirmed by X-ray crystal structure studies on one of the conjugates, i.e. on N 1 -(3'-deoxy-2'-O,4'-C-methylene-5-methyluridin-3'-yl)-C 4 -(4-phenylcoumarin-7-oxymethyl)-1,2,3-triazole. Photophysical studies carried out on the synthesized compounds demonstrate that they possess useful level of fluorescence with Stokes shift of approximately 70 nm., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

A series of β-d-ribofuranosyl coumarinyl-1,2,3-triazoles have been synthesized by Cu-catalyzed cycloaddition reaction between azidosugar and 7-O-/7-alkynylated coumarins in 62-70% overall yields. The in vitro antimycobacterial activity evaluation of the synthesized triazolo-conjugates against Mycobacterium tuberculosis revealed that compounds were bactericidal in nature and some of them were found to be more active than one of the first line antimycobacterial drug ethambutol against sensitive reference strain H37Rv, and 7 to 420 times more active than all four first line antimycobacterial drugs (isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and streptomycin) against multidrug resistant clinical isolate 591. Study of in silico pharmacokinetic profile indicated the drug like characters for the test molecules. Further, transmission electron microscopic experiments revealed that these compounds interfere with the constitution of bacterial cell wall possibly by targeting mycobacterial InhA and DNA gyrase enzymes. Study conducted on the activities of the test compounds on bacterial InhA and DNA gyrase revealed that the most bactericidal test compound, N 1 -(β-d-ribofuranosyl)-C 4 -(4-methylcoumarin-7-oxymethyl)-1,2,3-triazole (6b) and its corresponding directly linked conjugate N 1 -(β-d-ribofuranosyl)-C 4 -(4-methylcoumarin-7-yl)-1,2,3-triazole (11b) significantly inhibited the activity of both the enzymes. The results were further supported by molecular docking studies of the compound 6b and 11b with bacterial InhA and DNA gyrase B enzymes. Further, the cytotoxicity study of some of the better active compounds on THP-1 macrophage cell line using MTT assay showed that the synthesized compounds were non-cytotoxic., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

We have synthesized and studied the biological and biophysical properties of triazole-linked ribo and xylo locked nucleic acid (LNA). The combination of LNA with the Isobe triazole linkage gave high binding affinity when incorporated at the 3' or 5' termini of oligonucleotides, but low binding affinity at internal positions. Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) and siRNAs containing triazole dimers were highly active and nuclease resistant. Surprisingly, the xyloLNA-modified siRNA was the most active of the series.

New isatin-triazole based hybrids have been synthesized and evaluated for their inhibitory activity of TNF-α induced expression of Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on the surface of human endothelial cells. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies revealed that the presence of the electron-attracting bromo substituent at position-5 of the isatin moiety played an important role in enhancing the anti-inflammatory potential of the synthesized compounds. Z-1-[3-(1H-1,2,4-Triazol-1-yl)propyl]-5-bromo-3-[2-(4-methoxyphenyl)hydrazono]indolin-2-one (19) with an IC50 = 20 μM and 89% ICAM-1 inhibition with MTD at 200 μM was found to be the most potent of all the synthesized derivatives. Introduction of 1,2,4-triazole ring and electron-donating methoxy group on the phenylhydrazone moiety resulted in four-fold increase of the anti-inflammatory activity.

Three triazole-linked nonionic xylo-nucleoside dimers T(L)-t-T(xL), T(L)-t-A(BzxL) and T(L)-t-C(BzxL) have been synthesized for the first time by Cu(I) catalyzed azide-alkyne [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction (CuAAC) of 1-(3'-azido-3'-deoxy-2'-O,4'-C-methylene-β-D-ribo-furanosyl)thymine with different alkynes, i.e., 1-(5'-deoxy-5'-C-ethynyl-2'-O,4'-C-methylene-β-D-xylofuranosyl)thymine, 9-(5'-deoxy-5'-C-ethynyl-2'-O,4'-C-methylene-β-D-xylo-furanosyl)-N6-benzoyladenine and 1-(5'-deoxy-5'-C-ethynyl-2'-O,4'-C-methylene-β-D-xylofuranosyl)-N4-benzoylcytosine in 90%-92% yields. Among the two Cu(I) reagents, CuSO4.5H2O-sodium ascorbate in THF:(t)BuOH:H2O (1:1:1) and CuBr.SMe2 in THF used for cycloaddition (click) reaction, the former one was found to be better yielding than the latter one.

An efficient protocol has been developed for the synthesis of a small library of 3'-deoxy-3'-(4-substituted-triazol-1-yl)-5-methyluridine using Cu(I)-catalyzed Huisgen-Sharpless-Meldal 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of 3'-azido-3'-deoxy-5-methyluridine with different alkynes under optimized condition in an overall yields of 76%-92%. Here, the azido precursor compound, i.e., 3'-azido-3'-deoxy-5-methyluridine was chemoenzymatically synthesized from D-xylose in good yield. Some of the alkynes used in cycloaddition reaction were synthesized by the reaction of hydroxycoumarins or naphthols with propargyl bromide in acetone using K2CO3in excellent yields. All synthesized compounds were unambiguously identified on the basis of their spectral (IR, (1)H-, (13)C NMR spectra, and high-resolution mass spectra) data analysis.

Capabilities of lipases from Candida antarctica, Candida rugosa and porcine pancreas have been evaluated for regioselective acetylation of 2-phenyl-4-(D-arabino-tetrahydroxybutyl)-2H-1,2,3-triazole, 2-phenyl-4-(D-arabino-O-1',2'-isopropylidene-3',4'-dihydroxybutyl)-2H-1,2,3-triazole and 2-phenyl-4-(D-threo-trihydroxypropyl)-2H-1,2,3-triazole, precursors for the synthesis of triazolylacyclonucleosides. C. antarctica lipase and porcine pancreatic lipase exhibited exclusive selectivity for the acetylation of primary hydroxyl group over secondary hydroxyl group(s) in all the three cases.

Five 2-phenyl-4-(D-arabino-4'-cycloamino-3'-hydroxy-O-1',2'-isopropylidene-butyl)-2H-1,2,3-triazoles, acyclonucleosides containing unnatural bases have been synthesised by opening of the epoxide ring of 2-phenyl-4-(D-arabino-3',4'-epoxy-O-1',2'-isopropylidenebutyl)-2H-1,2,3-triazole with the corresponding cyclic amines in 70-85% yields. The starting arabino-epoxytriazole was prepared in five steps starting from D-glucose in an overall yield of 15%. All the five triazolylacyclonucleosides were unambiguously identified on the basis of their spectral data. The structure of one of the intermediates, that is 2-phenyl-4-(D-arabino-1',2',3',4'-tetrahydroxybutyl)-2H-1,2,3-triazole was confirmed by its X-ray crystallographic studies. These acyclonucleosides were subjected to antiviral activity evaluation in CEM-SS cell-based anti HIV assay with the lymphocytropic virus strains HIV-1(IIIB) and HIV-1(RF).