Specific Induced Circular Dichroism and Enhanced B to Z Transitions of Duplexes Stabilized by Chromophore‐Linked Alkynylnucleoside Residues

We have developed an induced circular dichroism (ICD) probe with a chromophore‐linked alkynyldeoxyribose skeleton for analyzing higher‐order structures of DNA duplexes in the visible‐light region. When CG‐repeated oligonucleotides (ODNs) with the probe at their 5′ ends adopted Z‐form duplexes at a high NaCl concentration, strong ICD signals were observed at the absorptive region of the chromophore. On the other hand, their B‐form duplexes, formed at a low NaCl concentration, produced a faint ICD signal. The specific ICD for the Z‐form duplexes was found to appear only when the chromophores were attached at the 5′ ends of each of the ODNs. Furthermore, the chromophoric alkynylnucleoside residues effectively promoted the B to Z transition of the ODN.