The Eight Stereoisomers of LNA (Locked Nucleic Acid): A Remarkable Family of Strong RNA Binding Molecules

Abstract

Hybridization properties are reported for all of the eight possible conformationally restricted stereoisomers of LNA (Locked Nucleic Acid, see picture). Remarkably, six of these, namely LNA, L-LNA, xylo-LNA, L-xylo-LNA, α-LNA, and α-L-LNA, display very high binding affinities towards complementary RNA and can be seen as unique nucleic acid mimics.