Sulfonyl imidazolium salts as reagents for the rapid and efficient synthesis of nucleoside polyphosphates and their conjugates.

A procedure for the synthesis of nucleoside polyphosphates and their conjugates using sulfonylimidazolium salts as key reagents is described. The procedure is rapid and high yielding, does not require prior protection and subsequent deprotection of the donors or acceptors, and can be used to activate nucleoside mono-, di- and triphosphates, and a wide variety of acceptors and donors can be used.