Synthesis of selenium-derivatized cytidine and oligonucleotides for X-ray crystallography using MAD

Synthesis of the novel 2'-Se-cytidine phosphoramidite was achieved via transformation of the uridine analogue to the cytidine derivative in high yield. This 2'-Se-cytidine phosphoramidite was used to synthesize selenium-derivatized DNA and RNA oligonucleotides for X-ray crystallography using MAD. The nucleotide coupling yield using this novel phosphoramidite was over 99% when 5-benzylmercaptotetrazole (5-BMT) was used as the coupling reagent.