Rapid chemical ligation of oligonucleotides by the Diels–Alder reaction

Extremely fast and efficient Diels-Alder chemical ligation of furan and maleimide oligonucleotides has been carried out in aqueous buffer. It was possible to ligate three oligonucleotides simultaneously in a controlled manner with the aid of a complementary splint. The templated reactions proceeded within 1 min at room temperature whereas non-templated reactions were slow and incomplete. Rapid and clean methods of DNA ligation such as the one demonstrated here have potential uses in biology and nanotechnology.