Hideto Maruyama; Ryota Oikawa; Mayu Hayakawa; Shono Takamori; Yasuaki Kimura; Naoko Abe; Genichiro Tsuji; Akira Matsuda; Satoshi Shuto; Yoshihiro Ito; Hiroshi Abe
Nucleic Acids Research, 2017, 45, 12, 7042-7048
https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx459

Abstract

We developed a new approach for chemical ligation of oligonucleotides using the electrophilic phosphorothioester (EPT) group. A nucleophilic phosphorothioate group on oligonucleotides was converted into the EPT group by treatment with Sanger's reagent (1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene). EPT oligonucleotides can be isolated, stored frozen, and used for the ligation reaction. The reaction of the EPT oligonucleotide and an amino-modified oligonucleotide took place without any extra reagents at pH 7.0–8.0 at room temperature, and resulted in a ligation product with a phosphoramidate bond with a 39–85% yield. This method has potential uses in biotechnology and chemical biology.