Main description:

This is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the field of artificial nucleic acids. Covering a tremendous amount of literature on the chemistry, biology, and structure of artificial nucleic acids, it will constitute an invaluable source of information for the specialist and for young researchers interested in starting a career in this fascinating field of research alike. This book combines the contributions of many of the major players in this research field, and covers the synthesis of sugar-, base- and backbone-modified nucleic acids, their structural characteristics studied by X-ray crystallography, and NMR in solution as well as their chemical and biological properties.

Contents:

Nucleic Acids with a Six-Membered 'Carbohydrate' Mimic in the Backbone (P. Herdewijn) Oligonucleotide N3'-> P5' Phosphoramidates and Thio-Phoshoramidates as Potential Therapeutic Agents (S. M. Gryaznov) From Anionic to Cationic alpha-Anomeric Oligodeoxynucleotides (F. Morvan, F. Debart, J.-J. Vasseur) The Resurgence of Acyclic Nucleic Acids (S. Zhang, C. Switzer, J. C. Chaput) Exotic DNAs Made of Nonnatural Bases and Natural Phosphodiester Bonds (J. Chiba, M. Inouye) Locked Nucleic Acids: Promising Nucleic Acid Analogs for Therapeutic Applications (R. N. Veedu, J. Wengel) Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNA) in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (P. E. Nielsen) 2-Azapurine Nucleosides: Synthesis, Properties, and Base Pairing of Oligonucleotides (S. Budow, F. Seela) An Overview of Sugar Modified Oligonucleotides for Antisense Therapeutics (T. P. Prakash) Phosphorothioate Nucleotides and Oligonucleotides - Recent Progress in Synthesis and Application (P. Guga, M, Koziolkiewicz) Crystallographic Studies of Chemically Modified Nucleic Acids: A Backward Glance (M. Egli, P. S. Pallan) Selenium Derivatization of Nucleic Acids for X-Ray Crystal-Structure and Function Studies (J. Sheng, Z. Huang) Oligonucleotides with Sugars Other Than Ribo- and 2'-Desoxyribofuranose in the Backbone: the Solution Structures Determined by NMR in the Context of the 'Etiology of Nucleic Acids' Project of Albert Eschenmoser (M.-O. Ebert, B. Jaun) Chemistry and Structural Biology of DNA Damage and Biological Consequences (M. P. Stone, H. Huang, K. L. Brown, G. Shanmugam) Exploring the Role of Chirality in Nucleic Acid Recognition (D. D'Alonzo, A. Guaragna, G. Palumbo) Chemistry on Nucleic Acid Templates (J. Berger, M. Oberhuber) Improved Large-Scale Liquid-Phase Synthesis and High-Temperature NMR Characterization of Short (F-)PNAs (T. A. Ploger, G. von Kiedrowski) Index