Synthesis of Rigid Homo- and Heteroditopic Nucleobase-Terminated Molecules Incorporating Adenine and/or Thymine

Abstract

A series of homo- and heteroditopic thymine- and/or adenine-terminated molecules incorporating rigid aryl or oligo(phenylene ethynylene) linkers has been efficiently synthesized. The key steps involved in the synthesis are the construction of the N-arylated nucleobases using the Chan-Lam-Evans-modified Ullman coupling and their further elaboration using the Sonogashira coupling. Furthermore, the synthesis of a rigid tripodal thymine derivative is reported.