Selective Acylation of Nucleosides, Nucleotides, and Glycerol-3-phosphocholine in Water

A convenient selective synthesis of 2′,3′-di-O-acetyl-nucleotide-5′-phosphates, 2′,3′-di-O-acetyl-nucleotide-5′-triphosphates and 2′,3′,5′-tri-O-acetyl-nucleosides in water has been developed. Furthermore, a long-chain selective glycerol-3-phosphocholine diacylation is elucidated. These reactions are environmentally benign, rapid, high yielding, and the products are readily purified. Importantly, this reaction may indicate a prebiotically plausible reaction pathway for the selective acylation of key metabolites to facilitate their incorporation into protometabolism.