Synthesis of 1-(2'-O-Methyl-ß-D-ribofuranosyl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-d]pyridazine-4,7(5H,6H)-dione: An Attractive Building Block for Antisense and Triple-helical Applications ‡

Synthesis of the title compound,1-(2'-O-methyl-ß-D-ribofuranosyl)-1H-imidazo-[4,5-d]pyridazine-4,7(5H,6H)-dione (1), is reported. It was synthesized in four steps, starting from methyl 1-(ß-D-ribofuranosyl)imidazo-4,5-dicarboxylate (2). The 3',5'-hydroxyl groups of 2 was protected with a bis-silylating agent to form 3, which was then methylated to form the corresponding 2'-O-methyl derivative 5. The silyl deprotection of the latter (to form 6), followed by treatment with hydrazine afforded the target nucleoside 1. The reported nucleoside has potentially beneficial applications in biomedicine based on antisense and triple-helical nucleic acid technologies.