Oligonucleotide Synthesis: Phosphotriester Approach

Over the last 30 years or so, the chemical synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) has constituted one of the most challenging problems in the field of the synthetic organic chemistry of natural products. In more recent times, attention has been focused not on “natural” nucleic acid fragments, but on the preparation of nucleic acids bearing modified internucleotidic linkages or modified bases in an effort to enhance stability to nucleases and increase cellular uptake.