10.1021/ja9612763.s001 Rex X.-F. Ren Rex X.-F. Ren Narayan C. Chaudhuri Narayan C. Chaudhuri Pamela L. Paris Pamela L. Paris Rumney Rumney Eric T. Kool Eric T. Kool Naphthalene, Phenanthrene, and Pyrene as DNA Base Analogues:  Synthesis, Structure, and Fluorescence in DNA American Chemical Society 1996 α- anomers compound 1α- chlorodeoxyribose precursor single-crystal X-ray structure 1 H NOE experiments β- anomers 1- pyrenyl deoxynucleosides C-glycosidic bond formation method DNA polycyclic C-nucleoside derivatives Such nucleoside analogues 1996-08-21 00:00:00 Journal contribution https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Naphthalene_Phenanthrene_and_Pyrene_as_DNA_Base_Analogues_Synthesis_Structure_and_Fluorescence_in_DNA/4057314 We describe the synthesis, structures, and DNA incorporation of deoxyribonucleosides carrying polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as the DNA “base” analogue. The new polycyclic compounds are 1-naphthyl, 2-naphthyl, 9-phenanthrenyl, and 1-pyrenyl deoxynucleosides. The compounds are synthesized using a recently developed C-glycosidic bond formation method involving organocadmium derivatives of the aromatic compounds coupling with a 1α-chlorodeoxyribose precursor. The principal products of this coupling are the α-anomers of the deoxyribosides. An efficient method has also been developed for epimerization of the α-anomers to β-anomers by acid-catalyzed equilibration; this isomerization is successfully carried out on the four polycyclic nucleosides as well as two substituted phenyl nucleosides. The geometry of the anomeric substitution is derived from <sup>1</sup>H NOE experiments and is also correlated with a single-crystal X-ray structure of one α-isomer. Three of the polycyclic C-nucleoside derivatives are incorporated into DNA oligonucleotides via their phosphoramidite derivatives; the pyrenyl and phenanthrenyl derivatives are shown to be fluorescent in a DNA sequence. The results (1) broaden the scope of our C-glycoside coupling reaction, (2) demonstrate that (using a new acid-catalyzed epimerization) both α- and β-anomers are easily synthesized, and (3) constitute a new class of deoxynucleoside derivatives. Such nucleoside analogues may be useful as biophysical probes for the study of noncovalent interactions such as aromatic π-stacking in DNA. In addition, the fluorescence of the phenanthrene and pyrene nucleosides may make them especially useful as structural probes.