Ambion, Inc., Bioorganic Chemistry Division, 2130 Woodward St., Austin, TX 78744, USA. akore@ambion.com
We report an industrial scale facile synthesis of 7-methyl guanosine 5'-diphosphate, which plays an important role in synthesis of various mRNA cap analogs. An efficient and selective methylation at position 7 of guanosine 5'-diphosphate was achieved by dissolving guanosine 5'-diphosphate in water and drops wise addition of dimethyl sulfate over a period of 1 h at room temperature. The reaction was completed within 2 h and resulted in more than a 96% yield. The desired product, 7-methyl GDP was purified by using BPG column on AKTA Purifier 100. Certainly, this method has advantages over the known methylation method, in terms of yield, economy, safety, and environmental concerns.