Phosphorothioate Analogues of Nucleotides—Tools for the Investigation of Biochemical Processes

Nucleoside phosphorothioates are analogues of nucleotides with a wide range of applications. Thus, on the one hand, in many but not all cases they are more stable against hydrolysis than the unmodified nucleotides—a property which they share with other nucleotide analogues. On the other hand, however, they are good substrates for many, but not all reactions where the nucleotide or the phosphorothioate group is transferred to an acceptor other than H₂O. As a consequence, once incorporated into a system such as DNA, phosphorothioates cannot be easily removed. What makes these compounds unique to a certain extent is the chirality at the phosphorus center if two nonequivalent residues are linked to the phosphorothioate group. This opens the way for the use of these compounds to investigate stereochemical aspects of enzymatic reactions. In addition to these properties, there are those expected from exchange of an oxygen for a sulfur atom in a phosphate group, e.g. the increased affinity towards mercury derivatives and the large chemical shift of the ³¹P-NMR sinals. If one considers how many biologically interesting compounds contain phosphate groups, the considerable interest in these nucleotide analogues is not surprising.