Tom Brown, El-Sagheer and Cheong describe in this HOT article how oligonucleotides can be ligated into larger strands by a template-directed Diels-Alder reaction.
Maleimide and furan moieties are terminally attached to synthetic DNA oligonucleotides by Diels Alder reactions.
It is also likely that the same chemistry can be applied to biologically important RNA analogues.
Find out more in this HOT article with important applications in biology and nanotechnology which is free to access until the 14th December.
Rapid chemical ligation of oligonucleotides by the Diels–Alder reaction
Afaf H. El-Sagheer, Vee Vee Cheong and Tom Brown
Afaf H. El-Sagheer, Vee Vee Cheong and Tom Brown
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00451K
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00451K
