ABSTRACT
A peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is an oligonucleotide mImIC in which the (deoxy)ribose-phosphate backbone has been replaced by an N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine unit and the nucleobases have been attached through methylenecarbonyllinkages (Fig. 1) [1,2]. PNA mirrors the hybridization properties of nucleic acids originally detailed by Watson and Crick in 1953 [3] and demonstrates significant advantages under specific conditions [4J. This function is being employed in a number of applications in molecular biology, diagnostics, and therapeutics [5-12]. As a consequence, a demand has grown for PNA oligomers, and hence their preparation and chemical properties are the subjects of this chapter.
