The synthesis of diene-containing nucleoside phosphoramidites and their use in the labeling of oligonucleotides.

A variety of furan-modified nucleoside phosphoramidite monomers has been prepared and efficiently incorporated into oligonucleotides. These take part in Diels-Alder reactions with fluorescent maleimides to give fluorescent-labeled oligonucleotides. This represents a strategy for oligonucleotide labeling that is orthogonal to amine-based methods.