Pentopyranosyl oligonucleotide systems - Communication No. 10 - The alpha-L-lyxopyranosyl-(4 '-2 ')-oligonucleotide system

To determine whether the remarkable chemical properties of the pyranosyl is omer of RNA as an informational Watson-Crick base-pairing system are unique to the pentopyranosyl-(4' --> 2')-oligonucleotide isomer derived from the RNA-building block D-ribose, studies on the entire family of diastereoisome ric pyranosyl-(4' --> 2') -oligonucleotide systems deriving from D-ribose, L-lyxose, D-xylose. and L-arabinose were carried out. The result of these e xtended studies is unambiguous: not only pyranosyl-RNA, but all members of the pentopyranosyl-(4' --> 2')-oligonucleotide family are highly efficient Watson-Crick base-pairing systems. Their synthesis and pairing properties w ill be described in a series of publications in this journal. The present p aper describes the alpha -L-lyxopyranosyl-(4' --> 2')-system.