Polystyrene Reverse-Phase Ion-Pair Chromatography of Chimeric Ribozymes

Abstract

The use of a reverse-phase polystyrene resin for ion-pair HPLC purification of large amounts of synthetic chimeric DNA-RNA oligomers that is faster and more reliable than previously used techniques has been developed. The preparation of synthetic oligomers containing RNA requires the use of tetrabutylammonium fluoride in the final step, the cleavage of the tert-butyldimethyl silyl protecting group from the ribonucleotides. Cleavage is accompanied by the serendipitous formation of ion pairs between tetrabutylammonium cations and the oligomer phosphates. The formation of these ion pairs retards the elution of the oligomer during HPLC, which allows rapid removal of excess tetrabutylammonium fluoride and the concomitant purification of chimeric ribozymes. This technique is based on a correlation between the length of ion-paired oligomers and their retardation during HPLC. The advantages of reverse-phase ion-pair HPLC on polystyrene resin for the fast purification of oligoribonucleotides are discussed and illustrated through the examples of synthesized chimeric ribozymes.