Synthesis and properties of carbohydrate–phosphate backbone-modified oligonucleotide analogues and nucleic acid mimetics

Advances in the synthesis of oligo(deoxy)ribonucleotide analogues and nucleic acid mimetics made in the last decade are summarized. Attention is focused on new methods for the synthesis of derivatives with a modified ribose–phosphate backbone (phosphorothioate, boranophosphate, and nucleoside phosphonate derivatives) and derivatives devoid of the phosphate group. Among nucleic acid mimetics, conformationally restricted modified peptide nucleic acids, including those bearing a negative or positive charge, and morpholino oligomers are considered. Advantages and drawbacks of the main types of analogues as regards the complexity of the synthesis and the possibility of their application as antisense agents or reagents for hybridization analysis are compared.