Synthesis of functionalized biphenyl-C-nucleosides and their incorporation into oligodeoxynucleotides.

We describe the synthesis of eight novel C-nucleosides in which the nucleobases are replaced by biphenyl residues that carry one or two electron donor (-OCH3,-NH2) or acceptor (-NO2) functional groups in the distal ring. These C-nucleosides were synthesized convergently and in high yields from a common bromophenyl-C-nucleoside precursor via Suzuki coupling with the respective boronic acids or esters. These nucleosides were subsequently converted into the corresponding phosphoramidite building blocks and efficiently incorporated into oligodeoxynucleotides by standard phosphoramidite chemistry.