Preparation of specifically deuterated RNA for NMR studies using a combination of chemical and enzymatic synthesis

Several nucleoside triphosphates (NTP) with deuterium labels on the 3', 4' and 5' carbons of ribose were synthesized using chemical and enzymatic methods. The chemical procedure entailed the conversion of glycerol-d8 into (D-d4-ribose). It was followed by four enzymatic reactions to transform ribose into adenosine triphospate, guanine triphosphate, CTP and UTP via purine salvage and pyrimidine biosynthetic routes.