Native DNA oligomers are shown to be stereoselective catalysts for the polymerization of 5'-amino-3'-acetaldehyde-modified thymidine/adenosine nucleosides through reductive amination. The reaction follows step-growth kinetics to read the encoded sequence and chain-length information in the antiparallel direction. Single mismatches in the template are selected against at a level of >100:1. A method is therefore established to translate biopolymer-encoded information stereoselectively into sequence- and chain-length specific synthetic polymers.

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Three new pathways to the antitumor drug temozolomide (4) have been explored via intermediates 3, 6, and 7. The key intermediate 5-amino-1-(N-methylcarbamoyl)imidazole-4-carboxamide (6) has been successfully converted to 4 in 45% yield by employing sodium nitrite in aqueous tartaric acid at 0-5 degrees C. Compound 6 is prepared from nitrophenyl carbamate 14a and methylamine or directly from 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide (13) and either methyl isocyanate or N-methylcarbamoyl chloride. Temozolomide (4) is also prepared from 8-cyano-3-methylimidazo[5,1-d]-1,2,3,5-tetrazin-4(3H)-one (7) by hydrolysis to the hydrochloride salt of 4 in 10 M hydrochloric acid. Compound 7is prepared from either 5-diazoimidazole-4-carbonitrile (28) and methyl isocyanate or by diazotization of 5-amino-1-(N-methylcarbamoyl)imidazole-4-carbonitrile (25). Attempts to cyclize 5-(3-methyltriazen-1-yl)imidazole-4-carboxamide (3) with phosgene or phosgene equivalents were unsuccessful: only 2-azahypoxanthine (11) was isolated.

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