Pure and Applied Chemistry

Abstract: We have been interested in merging synthetic nucleotide chemistry with combinatorial selection of DNAzymes to deliver a more complete (and complex) chemical complement to the catalytic repertoire of nucleic acids. Thus we ask, what do modified dNTPs really bring to nucleic acids in terms of an increased repertoire? In asking this question, we have looked first at conditions, and more recently for reaction classes where nucleic acids are found to be catalytically inefficient, deficient, or at least to date, seemingly incapable of certain functions. A case of this is M²⁺-independent ribophosphodiester hydrolysis at physiological pH and low ionic strength where nucleic acids exhibit especially low rate constants for self-cleavage and seem to be incapable of turnover.