Synthesis and biological activity of azanucleosides

In recent years nucleosides and nucleotides known to be DNA and RNA subunit s have become an increasingly important subject of research in the field of pharmaceutical science. In particular, recent studies deal with the synthe sis and biological activity of novel types of nucleosides and nucleotides. In this short review, we will summarize the chemistry of the so-called azan ucleosides which have an azaribofuranosyl moiety, together with our recent work in this area.