A highly acidic acridine for efficient site-selective activation of RNA leading to an eminent ribozyme mimic

Abstract

9-Amino-2-methoxy-6-nitroacridine ( 1a ) is conjugated with oligonucleotide for site-selective RNA hydrolysis. When this conjugate forms a duplex with complementary RNA, the phosphodiester linkage of the RNA in front of 1a is activated and selectively hydrolyzed by Lu(III) ion. Covalent fixation of the metal ion to sequence-recognizing moiety is unnecessary. The site-selective hydrolysis by this conjugate is 2.2 times as fast as that by the oligonucleotide bearing 9-amino-6-chloro-2-methoxyacridine ( 1b ), which hitherto has been the most active for the RNA activation. The acridine derivative 1a is more acidic than 1b , and thus is more effective as acid catalyst for the RNA hydrolysis.