Pentopyranosyl Oligonucleotide Systems, Communication No. 10, Theα-L-Lyxopyranosyl-(4′→2′)-oligonucleotide System

To determine whether the remarkable chemical properties of the pyranosyl isomer 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 diastereoisomeric pyranosyl-(4′→2′)-oligonucleotide systems deriving from D-ribose, L-lyxose, D-xylose, and L-arabinose were carried out. The result of these extended 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 will be described in a series of publications in this journal. The present paper describes the α-L-lyxopyranosyl-(4′→2′)-system.