In order to find the effects of unnatural nucleosides on the stability of duplex, several oligonucleotides containing 1-(2-deoxy-2-fluoro-β-D-arabinofuranosyl)-uracil(FAU),-cytosine (FAC) and -thymine (FMAU) were synthesized by two alternative approaches: phosphoramidite method on an ABI 392 synthesizer and H-phosphonate procedure on our GeneSyn I universal module synthesizer. It was shown from the melting profiles that the presence of FMAU has a large stabilizing effect on the duplex. Replacement of thymidine with FAU, or deoxycytidine with FAC resulted in the formation of less stable duplexes. Temperature-dependent CD spectroscopy demonstrated that the structures of the fluorine containing oligomers are very similar to those of unmodified oligomers.

Structural interpretation of the ³¹ P NMR shifts measured in different molecules including thiophosphate or phosphate group was obtained by means of theoretical calculations including the effects of geometry, molecular dynamics, solvent, relativistic effects and the effect of NMR reference.