Aminoethyl glycine peptide nucleic acids (aeg-PNA): the study of their interaction with DNA by means of stopped flow technique

Stopped-flow technique is useful for studying fast reactions that have half-lives as short as a few milliseconds.1 This technique has never been used to study the interaction between Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNA) and DNA strands in the formation of hybrids. PNAs are mimics of DNA, in which the entire sugarphosphate backbone has been replaced by a peptide amide bond backbone composed of N-(2-aminoethyl) glycine subunits. PNAs show unique properties that set them apart from other traditional DNA analogues.2 Normally the affinity of PNA for DNA is detected by using melting temperature3 but sometimes this technique is not appropriate, especially,- if PNA contain some thermal sensitive functional groups. So, we have started an innovative study of PNA-DNA interaction by using stopped-flow technique and for this we have synthesised the PNA sequences reported in Scheme 1. [1] Harvey R. A.; Borcherdt W. O. Anal. Chem. 1972, 44, 1926-1928. [2] Hyrup B.; Nielsen P. E. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 1996, 4, 5-13. [3] Schwarz F. P.; Robinson S.; Butler J. M., Nucleic Acids Research, 1999, 27, 4792-4800.