Uranyl-ion catalyzed oligonucleotide synthesis from adenosine-5'-phosphorazolide. The effect of azoles as nucleotide activating groups

Polymerization of azole-activated nucleotides was conducted in an aqueous medium with uranyl ion as a catalyst. Imidazole, 2-methylimidazole, 4-methylimidazole, triazole, nitrotriazole, tetrazole and 2-methylbenzimidazole were used as an activation group for adenylic acid. Oligoadenylates up to the hexadecamer were obtained in high total yield under the optimum condition. The azole compounds had large effect on the rate of polymerization, the yield and the chain length of the resulting oligoadenylates.