DNA-catalyzed polymerization

Native DNA oligomers are shown to be stereoselective catalysts for the polymerization of 5′-amino-3′-acetaldehyde-modified thymidine/adenosine nucleosides through reductive amination. The reaction follows step-growth kinetics to read the encoded sequence and chain-length information in the antiparallel direction. Single mismatches in the template are selected against at a level of >100:1. A method is therefore established to translate biopolymer-encoded information stereoselectively into sequence- and chain-length specific synthetic polymers. Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society.