Syntheses of silatranyl- and germatranyluridines.

[reaction: see text] Silatranyluridine 1 and germatranyluridine 2 have been prepared in five steps from oxazolinouridine 3 in 27 and 29% yields, respectively. These compounds are novel transition-state analogues (TSAs) for RNA hydrolysis and offer a number of advantages over traditional vanadium- or rhenium-based TSAs. Germatrane 2 is completely stable in D(2)O at room temperature, and the half-life of silatrane 1 in D(2)O was found to be >7 days by (1)H NMR spectroscopy.