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. 1992 Nov 11;20(21):5749–5752. doi: 10.1093/nar/20.21.5749

Selective cleavage of pyrophosphate linkages.

J Visscher 1, A W Schwartz 1
PMCID: PMC334412  PMID: 1333587

Abstract

Pyrophosphate linkages have a number of important roles in biology and are also formed chemically with great ease. They often are unwanted products, such as in the nonenzymatic oligomerization of mononucleotides. We have found that Zr(4+)- and Th(4+)-ions catalyze the symmetrical hydrolysis of pyrophosphate linkages. Oligonucleotide analogs linked by pyrophosphate bonds are substantially degraded in the presence of these metals, even at 0 degrees C. Conditions are described which permit the decapping of a pyrophosphate capped oligonucleotide. Oligodeoxynucleotides can be decapped by this procedure without cleavage of phosphodiester linkages. Oligoribonucleotides are susceptible to partial hydrolysis and require purification by HPLC after decapping.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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