Synthesis of an oxyamide linked nucleotide dimer and incorporation into antisense oligonucleotide sequences

Two derivatives of thymidine, a 5′-protected 3-hydroxylamine and 5′-carboxy-3′-protected compound, were prepared and coupled to form an oxyamide-linked dinucleotide analogue; this dimer was incorporated into an oligodeoxynucleotide then shown to anneal to complementary DNA with nearly the same affinity as the natural sequence.