Chemical synthesis of oligoribonucleotides with 2'-O-(2-cyanoethoxymethyl)-protected phosphoramidites

An RNA synthetic method with 2-cyanoethoxymethyl (CEM) as the 2'-hydroxyl protecting group allows the synthesis of long oligoribonucleotides from CEM-amidites with an efficiency and final purity comparable to that obtained in DNA synthesis. The CEM-amidites give a high coupling efficiency, because the CEM group minimizes steric hindrance in the coupling reaction. The CEM group shows satisfactory stability under solid-phase synthetic conditions, avoids the generation of asymmetric centers, and is easily cleaved to give the final product. This unit describes the synthesis of the four CEM-amidites, the preparation of reagents, the solid-phase synthesis of oligoribonucleotides on an automated DNA synthesizer, and their deprotection.