Lanthanide Ion as a Catalyst for Internucleotide Bond Formation

Abstract

Abstract The lanthanide ion-catalyzed oligomerization of adenosine 5′-(1-imidazolylphosphate) was performed to yield short-chained oligoriboadenylates. The effect of lanthanide ions on the synthesis of oligoriboadenylates increased nearly in the order of the atomic number: None < Nd3+ La3+ Ce3+ Pr3+ Sm3+ Eu3+ Gd3+ < Tb3+ < Dy3+ Ho3+ < Er3+ < Yb3+ < Lu3+. The total yield of the oligoriboadenylates was 49% when Lu3+ was used as a catalyst. The linkage in the resulting oligoribadenylate was mainly 2′–5′.