Synthesis, Biophysical and Biological Evaluations of Novel Antisense Oligonucleosides Containing Dephosphono-Internucleosidic Linkages

Efficient large-scale syntheses of methylene(methylimino) (MMI) linked mixed base nucleosidic dimers have been accomplished. These dimers were successfully incorporated into deoxyoligonucleotides by automated solid-support synthesis. The hybridization properties, nuclease stability, RNase H mediated cleavage and in vitro biological activity of novel chimeric oligomers have been studied. The biophysical and biological evaluation of these chimeric oligomers containing MMI linkages suggests that MMI is a promising chemical modification of the backbone linkage for the construction of antisense molecules useful as therapeutics.