Covalent
metalation of the base moieties affords a new class of modified
oligonucleotides. These organometallic oligonucleotides share many properties,
notably increased hybridization affinity conferred by metal-mediated base
pairing, with oligonucleotides incorporating coordinative transition metal
complexes. They are, however, set apart by their ability to retain the
transition metal ion even at extreme dilution. Such stability towards
dissociation would be desirable in DNA nanotechnology and necessary in
therapeutic applications. Herein we describe our efforts towards preparation
and characterization of organometallic covalently
mercurated and palladated oligonucleotides, highlighting in
particular our recent contribution on the synthesis and potential applications
of oligonucleotides incorporating dimercurated artificial nucleobases.