Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of dinucleotide mRNA cap analog containing propargyl moiety

The first example of the synthesis of new dinucleotide cap analog containing propargyl group such as m(7,3'-O-propargyl)G[5']ppp[5']G is reported. The effect of propargyl cap analog with standard cap was evaluated with respect to their capping efficiency, in vitro T7 RNA polymerase transcription efficiency, and translation activity using cultured HeLa cells. It is noteworthy that propargyl cap analog outperforms standard cap by 3.1 fold in terms of translational properties. The propargyl cap analog forms a more stable complex with translation initiation factor eIF4E based on the molecular modeling studies.