Oligodeoxynucleotides with extended zwitter-ionic internucleotide linkage

Two non-natural nucleoside analogues, N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2′,5′-dideoxy-5′-aminothymidine (dTNH) and N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N-methyl-2′,5′-dideoxy-5′-aminothymidine (dTNMe), have been prepared and used in the synthesis of oligodeoxythymidilates and mixed-sequence oligodeoxynucleotides, modified at internucleotide linkages. Both modified oligodeoxythymidilates and mixed-sequence oligodeoxynucleotides have been shown to form zwitter-ionic phosphate–amine pairs as evidenced by their decreased electrophoretic mobility in denaturing polyacrylamide gel.