Treatment of Nucleoside Analogs 2−5 with DMT-Cl. Nucleoside analogs 2−5 were treated with DMT-Cl (Scheme1) in pyridine at room temperature in the presence of Et3N.The reaction was found to be unusually sluggish (requiring 24−72 h), compared to the same reaction with natural nucleosides,and in all four instances resulted in incomplete conversion of starting nucleosides. The reaction of 2−5 with DMT-Cl produced the DMT-protected products 2a−5a in moderate(38−52%, Scheme 1) yield after flash column chromatography(FCC). Although 5′-O-DMT-protected nucleobases are known to be very sensitive to acidic environments, the isolated products 2a−5a failed to display this property. When analyzed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC), the spots associated with 2a−5a did not turn orange upon staining with 1 M HCl
(expected due to DMT cation formation). Moreover,compounds 2a−5a remained stable; i.e., no DMT was removed as judged by TLC and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS)analysis, even after prolonged exposure to strong acid
(neat TFA, 12 h).