THE STABILITY OF TRISUBSTITUTED INTERNUCLEOTIDE BOND IN THE PRESENCE OF THE VICINAL 2'-HYDROXYL - CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS OF URIDYL(2'-PHOSPHATE)-(3'-5')-URIDINE

The effect of eleven different phosphoryl center protecting groups on the stability of trisubstituted internucleotide bond of the dimers (1a -k), in the presence of the vicinal 2'-hydroxyl, was examined. It has been found that electronic properties of the phosphoryl center protect ing groups are essential for the reactivity of the trisubstituted inte rnucleotide bond. Those observations were applied to the chemical synt hesis of the uridyl(2'-phosphate)-(3'-5')-uridine, a useful model for further pre-tRNA splicing studies.