Palladium-catalyzed synthesis of uridines on polystyrene-based solid supports

In this paper, the solid-phase synthesis of various substituted pyrimidine nucleosides is described starting from 2'-deoxyuridine, which has been attached through a base labile linker to polystyrene resins. The utility of the Pd(0) cross-coupling to functionalized pyrimidine nucleosides is expanded herein to include reactions of resin-supported 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine under Sonogashira, Stille, Heck, and Suzuki conditions. Upon cleavage with MeONa, a library of 5-substituted pyrimidine nucleosides was obtained in good (under Sonogashira and Stille conditions) to moderate (under Heck or Suzuki conditions) yields and high purity. Except the Suzuki-type reactions, the presented methods exhibit a significant improvement and facilitate the synthetic procedure with respect to purification and yields (determined after filtration over silica gel).