Sulfur transfer reagents for oligonucleotide synthesis

Abstract

The use of N-formamidino-5-amino-3H-1,2,4-dithiazole-3-thiones, 5-phenyl-3H-1,2,4-dithiazole-3-thiones, and derivatives thereof as novel, efficient sulfur-transfer reagents is disclosed. Sulfur transfer from these reagents to compounds containing a P(III) atom (e.g., triphenylphosphine, 5'-O-DMT-thymidine 2-cyanoethyl-(N,N-diisopropyl)phosphoramidite, and 5′-O-DMT-3′-O-levulinyl dithymidilyl 2-cyanoethyl phosphite), was studied in solution byP NMR and HPLC. The sulfur transfer from title compounds was also studied in the solid-phase synthesis of oligonucleotide phosphorothioates by phosphoramidite methods. In this application, the efficiency of the sulfur transfer reaction for 2′-deoxyoligonucleotides was better than 99.5%. The novel sulfurizing agents are synthesized, at low cost, using simple chemical methods. As opposed to many sulfur transfer reagents known in the prior art such as 1,2-benzodithiol-3-one-1,1-dioxide (Beaucage reagent) and 5-ethoxy-3H-1,2,4-dithiazole-2-one (EDIT), the sulfurizing agents disclosed herein are highly stable in solution, which increases their practical and commercial value.