Synthesis and structure of fluoroindole nucleosides

Chemically modified bases are frequently used to stabilize nucleic acids, to study the driving forces for nucleic acid structure formation, and to tune DNA and RNA hybridization conditions. Nucleoside analogues are chemical means to investigate hydrogen bonds, base stacking, and solvation as the three predominant forces that are responsible for the stability of nucleic acids. To obtain deeper insight into the contributions of these interactions to RNA stability, we decided to synthesize some novel nucleic acid analogues where the nucleobases are replaced by fluoroindoles. Fluorinated indoles can be compared with fluorinated benzimidazoles to determine the role of nitrogen in five-membered ring systems. The synthesis of fluoroindole ribonucleosides as well as the X-ray crystal structures of all synthesized fluoroindole ribonucleosides are reported here. These compounds could also be building blocks for a variety of biologically active RNA analogues.