2',4'-Propylene-bridged thymidine (carba-ENA-T) and five 8'-Me/NH(2)/OH modified carba-ENA-T analogues have been prepared through intramolecular radical addition to C═N of the tethered oxime-ether. These carba-ENA nucleosides have been subsequently incorporated into 15mer oligodeoxynucleotides (AON), and their affinity toward cDNA and RNA, nuclease resistance, and RNase H recruitment capability have been investigated in comparison with those of the native and ENA counterparts. These carba-ENAs modified AONs are highly RNA-selective since all of them led to slight thermal stabilization effect for the AON:RNA duplex, but quite large destabilization effect for the AON:DNA duplex. It was found that different C8' substituents (at the bottom of the minor groove) on carba-ENA-T only led to rather small variation of thermal stability of the AON:RNA duplexes. We, however, observed that the parent carba-ENA-T modified AONs exhibited higher nucleolytic stability than those of the ENA-T modified counterparts. The nucleolytic stability of carba-ENA-T modified AONs can be further modulated by C8' substituent to variable extents depending on not only the chemical nature but also the stereochemical orientation of the C8' substituents: Thus, (1) 8'S-Me on carba-ENA increases the nucleolytic stability but 8'R-Me leads to a decreased effect; (2) 8'R-OH on carba-ENA had little, if any, effect on nuclease resistance but 8'S-OH resulted in significantly decreased nucleolytic stability; and (3) 8'-NH(2) substituted carba-ENA leads to obvious loss in the nuclease resistance. The RNA strand in all of the carba-ENA derivatives modified AON:RNA hybrid duplexes can be digested by RNase H1 with high efficiency, even at twice the rate of those of the native and ENA modified counterpart.

Two free-radical cyclization reactions with the radical at the chiral C4 of the pentose sugar and the intramolecularly C1-tethered olefin (on radical precursors 8 and 17) gave a new diastereospecific C4-C8 bond in dimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptane 9, whereas the new C4-C7 bond in 7-methyl-2-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptanes 18a/18b gave trans and cis diastereomers, in which the chirality of the C4 center is fully retained as that of the starting material. It has been shown how the chemical nature of the fused carba-pentofuranose scaffolds, dimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptane 9 vis-a-vis 7-methyl-2-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptanes 18a/18b (C7-Me in the former versus 2-O- in the latter), dictates the stereochemical outcome both at the Grignard reaction step as well as in the free-radical ring-closure reaction. The formation of pure 1,8-trans-bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane 9 from 8 suggests that the boat-like transition state is favored due to the absence of steric clash of the bulky 1(S)-O-p-methoxybenzyl (PMB) and 7(R)-Me substituents (both in the α-face) with that of the 8(R)-CH(2)(•) radical in the β-face. The conversion of 17 → 18a-7(S) and 18b-7(R) in 6:4 ratio shows that the participation of both the chair- and the boat-like transition states is likely.

We report the high-yielding and scalable diastereospecific synthesis of isomeric bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-7- and -8-oximes and their corresponding C-nitroso derivatives, which are the key intermediates for the synthesis of carbanucleosides. Neither the (C7-R)-nitroso- nor (C8-S)-nitrosobicycloheptane system requires any external base in DMSO-d6 to afford the corresponding oxime, and no reverse isomerization from the oxime to the C-nitroso compound was observed. The conversion of the (C8-S)-nitroso compound to the E/Z-oximes was ∼8 times faster (at 40 °C) than that of the (C7-R)-nitroso derivative. The mechanism involves first-order reaction kinetics for the conversion of either the (C7-R)- or (C8-S)-nitroso derivative to the corresponding E/Z-oximes. The lower rate of conversion of the (C7-R)-nitroso compound to the corresponding oximes compared with that of the (C8-S)-nitroso derivative is attributed to the fact that the acidic H8 ionizing center is two bonds away from the OPMB group on C1 in the latter whereas H7 is three bonds away from the C1 OMe group in the former, making the effect of the electron-withdrawing group on C1 stronger in the latter.

We report an unusual strain-releasing reaction of 1-mesyloxy-8,7-dimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptane (3) by a base-promoted substitution at the chiral C3 followed by spontaneous concerted ring opening involving the most strained C2-C3-C4 bonds (with bond angle 94°) and the C2 bridgehead leading to anti-endo elimination of the C1-mesyloxy group by the conjugate base of adenine or thymine to give two diastereomeric C3'(S) and C3'(R) derivatives of 1-thyminyl and 9-adeninyl cyclohexene: 3 → T-4a + T-4b and 3 → A-5a + A-5b. These products have been unambiguously characterized by detailed 1D and 2D NMR (J-coupling constants and nOe analysis), mass, and UV spectroscopy. Evidence has been presented suggesting that the origin of these diastereomeric C3'(S) and C3'(R) derivatives of 1-thyminyl and 9-adeninyl cyclohexene from 3 is most probably a rearrangement mechanism of a trigonal bipyramidal intermediate formed in the S(N)2 displacement-ring-opening reaction.