A Novel Lanthanide Complex with Remarkable Phosphodiester Transesterification Activity and DNA-Conjugatable Functionality

Encapsulated lanthanide complexes like the TCMC complexes are highly stable under physiological conditions. With the ultimate goal being an in vivo application of these complexes as a sequence-selective RNA/DNA cleaving agent (artificial RNAse/DNAse), kinetic stability of the complex would be a distinct advantage. We have synthesized a novel lanthanide complex with such stability and which displays high transesterification activity. The most important attribute of this compound is the nitrophenyl group which would allow further derivatization and conjugation to a DNA oligomer, thus creating a potential for the sequence selective hydrolysis of its target.