Xu, J.; Tsanakopoulou, M.; Magnani, C. J.; Szabla, R.; Šponer, J. E.; Šponer, J.; Góra, R. W.; Sutherland, J. D. Nat. Chem. 2016, advance online publication DOI: 10.1038/nchem.2664
We describe a long-sought route through ribose aminooxazoline to the pyrimidine β-ribonucleosides and their phosphate derivatives that involves an extraordinarily efficient photoanomerization of α-2-thioribocytidine. In addition to the canonical nucleosides, our synthesis accesses β-2-thioribouridine, a modified nucleoside found in transfer RNA that enables both faster and more-accurate nucleic acid template-copying chemistry.
