Polyamide nucleic acid derivatives and agents, and processes for preparing them

1. A method for detecting a nucleic acid of interest, said method comprising

providing a PNA derivative of formula I, which is detectably labeled,

wherein

q is 0;

D′ is, independently of each other, hydroxyl, mercapto, amino, alkylamino, or acylamino;

V is oxygen, sulfur, or NR 1 ;

V′ is, independently of any other V′, oxygen, sulfur, NR 1 , U—(CR 3 R 4 ) u′ —C(O)—NH, or U—(CH 2 CH 2 O) u′ —CH 2 —C(O)—NH;

U is, independently of any other U, oxygen, sulfur, or NH;

u′ is, independently of any other u′, from 1 to 10;

W and W′ are, independently of each other, oxygen, sulfur, or NR 1 ;

Y and Y′ are, independently of each other, hydroxyl, mercapto, oxyanion, thioate, or NR 1 R 2 ;

X and X′ are, independently of each other,

U—(C 2 -C 22 -alkanediyl)-U,

U—(CH 2 CH 2 —O) u′ ,

a labeling group,

a group for crosslinking,

a group which promotes intracellular uptake, or

a group which increases the binding affinity of the PNA derivative for nucleic acids;

Z and Z′ are, independently of each other,

hydroxyl,

mercapto,

oxyanion,

thioate,

NR 1 R 2 ,

C 1 -C 22 -alkyl,

C 1 -C 8 -arylalkyl,

C 1 -C 22 -alkyl-U,

C 1 -C 8 -arylalkyl-U,

hydroxy-C 1 -C 18 —U,

aminoalkyl-U,

mercaptoalkyl-U,

a group of the formula R 7 (CH 2 CH 2 —O) m′ , wherein R 7 is hydroxyl, amino, or C 1 -C 22 -alkoxy, and m′ is from 1 to 100,

a labeling group,

a crosslinking group,

a group which promotes intracellular uptake, or

a group which increases the binding affinity of the PNA derivative for nucleic acids;

R 1 and R 2 are, independently of each other, a radical consisting of hydrogen or C 1 -C 6 -alkyl, preferably hydrogen,

R 3 and R 4 are, independently of each other, a radical consisting of hydrogen or C 1 -C 6 -alkyl, or the radical of an amino acid side chain, wherein adjacent radicals R 3 and R 4 in V′ can also form a C 5 -C 8 -cycloalkyl ring;

n is from 0 to 10;

m is from 0 to 10;

and wherein {POLY} is described by Formula II

wherein {BLOCK} is, independently of any other {BLOCK}, a group selected from Formula IIIA,

Formula IIIB,

and Formulae IV A to IV G,

wherein each {BLOCK} building block can be different,

and wherein

z″ is from 0 to 100;

G is (CR 5 R 6 ) u′ , C(O)NH—(CR 1 R 2 ) t′ , or C(O)NH—(CH 2 CH 2 O) u′ —CH 2 CH 2 , wherein t′ is from 2 to 10;

A is, independently of any other A, a group (CR 1 R 2 ) s , wherein s is from 1 to 3;

B is, independently of any other B, either an aromatic radical, a heteroaromatic radical, hydrogen, hydroxyl, or C 1 -C 18 -alkyl, or a nucleobase which occurs naturally, and is customary in nucleotide chemistry, or which does not occur naturally, or its prodrug form;

D is, independently of any other D, a group (CR 3 R 4 ) t , wherein t is from 2 to 10;

E is, independently of any other E, a group (CR 5 R 6 ) u′ , R 5 and R 6 are, independently of each other, a radical consisting of hydrogen, C 1 -C 6 -alkyl, or the radical of an amino acid side chain, wherein adjacent R 5 and R 6 radicals can form a C 5 -C 8 -cycloalkyl ring or a spiro compound;

wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , and u′ are as defined above;

and physiologically tolerated salts of the PNA derivative of Formula I,

with the provisos that at least one Y, Y′, Z, or Z′ radical is hydroxyl, mercapto, oxyanion, or thioate, and that at least one B radical is a nucleobase;

wherein the detectably labeled PNA derivative comprises a base sequence that hybridizes with at least one sequence present in the nucleic acid of interest under selected conditions;

combining the detectably labeled PNA derivative with a sample suspected of containing the nucleic acid of interest, and

detecting specific binding of the detectably labeled PNA derivative to said nucleic acid of interest,

wherein specific binding indicates the presence of the nucleic acid of interest in the sample.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid of interest is a nucleic acid of a microorganism or a virus.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting specific binding step utilizes fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH).

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of quantifying the nucleic acid of interest.