4′‐SCF ₃ ‐Labeling Constitutes a Sensitive ¹⁹ F NMR Probe for Characterization of Interactions in the Minor Groove of DNA

Fluorinated nucleotides are invaluable for 19F NMR studies of nucleic acid structure and function. Here, we synthesized 4′-SCF3 -thymidine (T ) incorporated it into DNA by means solid-phase synthesis. showed that the group exhibited a flexible orientation in minor groove duplexes was well accommodated various higher order structures. The three magnetically equivalent fluorine atoms -DNA constitute an isolated spin system, offering high sensitivity excellent resolution positioning T within secondary tertiary structural adaptability make valuable probe quantitatively distinguishing diverse structures with single-nucleotide monitoring dynamics interactions double-stranded DNA.