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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Energetically important C-H···F-C pseudohydrogen bonding in water: evidence and application to rational design of
Maryam Yahyaee Anzahaee1, Jonathan K Watts, Nageswara R Alla
1Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 2K6.
Abstract:
It is controversial whether organic fluorine can form energetically important hydrogen bonds in aqueous environments. We previously showed by NMR and molecular modeling that the unexpectedly high binding affinity of 2'F-ANA is largely due to a C-H···F-C pseudohydrogen bond at pyrimidine-purine steps. Comparisons of the melting of duplexes with identical sequence composition but a rearranged sequence confirm that energetically important fluorine-mediated pseudohydrogen bonding is in operation in these sequences. The effect is of particular importance when the H-bond donor (purine H8) is activated by the presence of fluorine at its own 2'-position. These results provide a rational method to increase the binding affinity of antisense oligonucleotides by placement of 2'F-ANA modifications at pyrimidine-purine steps.
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