Synthesis of oligonucleotide derivatives with aryl(trifluoromethyl)diazirine moiety for the photoaffinity modification of proteins and nucleic acids

1-(4-(3-(Trifluoromethyl)-3H-diazirin-3-yl)benzamido)-3-O-(4,4'-dimethoxytrityl)-2,3-propanediol phosphoramidite was synthesized and used as a modified unit in the automatic synthesis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides. Pentadecathymidylates with various numbers of 2,3-propanediol moieties substituted with aryl(trifluoromethyl)diazirinyl (ATFMD) were obtained, and the thermal stability of their duplexes with (dA)(15) were studied. One ATFMD-propanediol residue was shown to reduce the thermal stability of the duplex by 8-9degreesC. The irradiation of the ATFMD-containing duplexes by UV light with the wavelength of 350 nm was found to cause the cross-linking reaction of the ATFMD-containing strand with the complementary strand and the formation of the cross-linked duplexes. The photomodification efficiency was independent of the oligonucleotide, sequence, with each ATFMD group providing for 5% cross-linking. The irradiation of an ATFMD-containing duplex, a substrate of the HIV-1 integrase, in the presence of this enzyme resulted in the covalent DNA-protein complex. The oligonucleotides with the 1-(4-(3-(trifluoromethyl)-3H-diazirin-3-yl)benzamido)-2,3-propanediol moiety in their chains can be used for the photoaffinity modification of both nucleic acids and proteins that recognize them.