“…6 One of the most renowned examples of sugar-modified nucleic acids is represented by the oligonucleotide system composed of (6′ → 4′)linked 1′,5′-anhydro-D-arabino-hexitol nucleotides 7 (HNA, Hexitol Nucleic Acids; Fig. 2 The analysis of the physicochemical properties of oligonucleotide systems composed of pyranyl (α-HNA, 8 ANA, 9 MNA, F-HNA, 10 cANA 11 ), pyranosyl (homoDNA, 12 MANA, 13 DMANA 14 ) and carbocyclic (CNA, 15 CeNA, 16 F-CeNA 17 ) nucleotides, quite often evaluated in both enantiomeric forms, 15,[18][19][20] has led to the identification of HNA congeners endowed with even superior hybridization properties, 9,10,13,16 thus acting, along with HNA, as excellent candidates for applications in therapy, 21 diagnostics 22 and chemical genetics. As widely reported, the strong and selective affinity for RNA (ΔT m /mod up to +3°C) relies on a pre-organized conformation of the non-hydrolyzable hexitol ring, closely resembling the C3′-endo sugar ring pucker of natural ribonucleotides.…”