Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids: Chemistry and Biology

The search for bioactive molecules is an intense and continuous area of research. In this context, nucleosides, nucleotides and nucleic acids play a special role e.g. these classes of molecules are used in the clinic for the treatment of different diseases, with emphasis on the treatment of viral infections and cancer. Despite all these achievements, in recent years important new developments in the area were reported, including new reactions, new scaffolds for new bioactive nucleosides and pro-drugs, as well as their modification for use in RNA vaccines and anti-sense therapy.

Nucleosides, nucleotides and nucleic acids play a central role in the treatment of different diseases with emphasis on viral infections and cancer. The recent outbreaks of new life-threatening viruses resulted in a boost in new achievements on this area with new nucleosides and their derivatives being approved for treatment of these viral infections. Additionally, the understanding of the nucleoside, nucleotide and nucleic acid chemistry and biochemistry allowed the development of the RNA vaccines, an important breakthrough in the recent treatment of SARS-CoV-2 and also with great potential in the treatment of other diseases. This Research Topic aims to discuss these developments and their impact in the future of the field that may lead to new achievements.

We welcome Original Research, Review, Mini Review and Perspective articles on themes including, but not limited to:

• Synthetic methodologies to access non-natural nucleosides, nucleotides, prodrugs as well as RNA/DNA synthesis
• Conformational studies
• RNA therapeutics including vaccines and antisense oligonucleotides
• Structural investigations
• Imaging
• Biosensors