Hydrazide-and amide-linked oligonucleoside analogues with integrated bases and backbone were designed to allow for a rapid synthesis of long and water-soluble oligomers. The uracil-, cytosine-, and adenine-derived hydrazide building blocks 13 -15 were synthesized by nucleophilic substitution with the hydrazine 23 of the halides 19, 28, and 34, derived from the alcohols 18, 27, and 33, respectively, while the uracil-, cytosine-, and adenine-derived amide building blocks 45 -47 were synthesized by a Curtius degradation of the carboxylic acids 51, 56, and 61. These acids were obtained by Wittig reaction of the aldehydes 49, 53, and 58. The guanine-derived monomers 44 and 48 were synthesized by reductive cyclisation of the nitroso amides 38 and 63, respectively, resulting from acylation of the known 2,6diamino-4-(benzyloxy)-5-nitrosopyrimidine (37).Stacking of the nucleobases and the right geometry for Watson -Crick base pairing required adjusting the torsion angles k, x, and z from À 50, 180, and À 90 to À 70, þ 70, and À 1008, respectively ( Fig. 1, b ! c). We assumed that changing k and z from their energetically ideal values will result in only little torsional strain, and that the energy to be paid would be overcompensated by the H-bonds between the nucleobases [11] [25], and by base stacking [26]. However, calculations 7 ) to evaluate the energy to be paid for the adjustment of the torsion angle x from 1808 to þ 708 gave contradictory results 8 ). It is thus not possible to specify an overall energy value to be paid for the conformational transition from conformer b to c in Fig. 1.Modelling studies of various dimers suggested that stacking interactions depend on the sequence, and decrease in the order UA % UU % AA > AU. To evaluate the formation of duplexes between longer oligonucleotide analogues, we minimised the conformational energy of the octamer U 4 A 4 (Fig. 3) 9 ). The model suggested Watson -Crick-type base pairing and base stacking, with the hydrazide linker adopting a conformation with torsion angles k -z as deduced for the cyclic duplex (Fig. 1, c). The Helvetica Chimica Acta -Vol. 92 (2009) 1138. Model of the hydrazide-linked octamer U 4 A 4 . a) Side view. b) Top view. 7 ) Ab initio calculations using Spartan 06 and the 6-31G* basis set. 8 ) The conformational energies of N-methyl-2-(6-methyluracil-1-yl-)acetamide and N-methyl-2-(8methyladenine-9-yl-)acetamide were minimised, resulting in an energy minimum of x ¼ À 708 (cf. experimentally favoured: x ¼ 1808). The value of x ¼ 708, required for duplex formation, corresponds to a calculated energy maximum. 9 ) Amber* force-field calculation using Macromodel 7.0, with the H-bonds between the nucleobases constrained.