On the Karplus relation for 3J(POCC) of nucleotides

The original Karplus parameters for analysing ³J(POCC) magnitudes of nucleotides in terms of conformational properties of the O? C bond were taken from results for 3′,5′-nucleotides and applied to 3′→ 5′-oligonucleotides; the parameters were later modified to take account of ‘largey’ magnitudes of ³J(POCC) observed in 2′ → 5′-oligonucleotides. In this work the origin of this discrepancy is explained in terms of substituent electronegativity effects at C-1′, and quantified using the ¹³C NMR results of 2′,3′-cyclic mononucleotides. A new set of Karplus parameters suitable for analysing ³J(POCC) magnitudes in 3′- and 5′-nucleotides and 3′ → 5′-oligonucleotides is determined from ¹³C NMR measurements on 3′-nucleotides and available results for 3′,5′-cyclic mononucleotides. A method of dealing with J(P, C-1′) coupling in 2′-nucleotides, 2′,3′-cyclic nucleotides and 2′ → 5′-oligonucleotides using the same Karplus relationship is suggested.