Pyrrolidine Oligonucleotide Mimics (POMs) possess a high affinity for complimentary nucleic acids with unprecedented kinetic selectivity for RNA over DNA. Moreover at physiological pH, it is more soluble than most other modified oligonucleotides and less prone to aggregation in aqueous media than other mimics such as PNA. With this mind the object of this project are essentially two-fold. Firstly, to develop monomer units capable of self-assembly and secondly, to investigate non-enzymatic transcription of DNA/RNA to POM using dynamic combinatorial reductive amination approaches.

The synthetic approach adopted for the synthesis of the monomeric units (3 and 4) is illustrated in Scheme 1.1.

Figure 1.1 shows a schematic representation of template directed synthesis of POM.

The research will bring insight into the evolution of nucleic acid structures and develop a new class of unique compounds with informed diversity.