Grafting of optically active nucleic acid base derivatives onto poly(vinylamine) as polynucleotide analogs

Polynucleotide analogs consisting of poly(vinylamine) as the backbone and optically active thymine and adenine derivatives as the pendants were synthesized. The pendants were prepared by the addition reaction of the nucleic acid base to ethyl crotonate followed by hydrolysis. The pendants were resolved using brucine as the resolving agent and an acetone-water mixture as the fractional crystallization solvent. The active esters of the pendants also were prepared. Poly(vinylamine) was isolated from water employing a weak acid, N-hydroxysuccinimide (HOSu), to protect the amino group of the poly(vinylamine). Model reactions for grafting were examined. Grafting reactions were carried out by reacting the active esters with the PVAm.6HOSu complex at room temperature.