Azidopeptide nucleic acid. An alternative strategy for solid-phase peptide nucleic acid (PNA) synthesis.

[reaction: see text] A practical and efficient method for PNA synthesis using an azide group to mask the N-terminus is reported. The deprotection was carried out in 5 min, while couplings were complete within 60 min. The near neutral conditions of the phosphine deprotection combined with the base-free coupling using hydroxybenzotriazole-activated monomers make this approach very mild.