AltOligo: Alternative chemistry for oligonucleotide synthesis using Nanostar Sieving

数以百万计的分子是由单个构建块（单体）的重复单元组成的。DNA和RNA是重要的天然聚合物，由重复的核苷酸作为构建单元制成。化学修饰RNA（寡核苷酸）短链的制造为新型疗法的开发带来了巨大的希望。目前使用固相合成来实现，其中生长的寡聚物与不溶性底物结合，并且单体一次加入一个。固相合成难以规模化，并且所得纯度低，导致价格高。英国初创企业Exactmer开发了一项专利技术，使聚合物合成完全在液相中进行，以克服这些障碍。欧盟资助的NANOLIGO项目将把这项技术推向市场，有可能大大加快新型复杂聚合物药物的开发，并降低制造成本。

Millions of molecules are made of repeating units of individual building blocks (monomers). DNA and RNA are important natural polymers made of repeating nucleotides as building blocks. The manufacture of short strands of chemically modified RNA (oligonucleotides) has shown great promise for the development of novel therapies. It is currently achieved using solid-phase synthesis in which the growing oligo is bound to an insoluble substrate and monomers are added one at a time. Solid-phase synthesis is difficult to scale and the resulting purity is low, leading to high prices. The UK start-up Exactmer has developed patented technology enabling polymer synthesis entirely in the liquid phase to overcome these obstacles. The EU-funded NANOLIGO project will bring this technology to market with the potential to significantly speed the development of novel complex polymeric pharmaceuticals and slash manufacturing costs.