A facile and eco-friendly approach has been developed for the preparation of N-(ethyoxycarbonylmethyl) nucleobases and N-(iso-propoxycarbonylmethyl) nucleobases, which are important building blocks for Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNA). All the nucleobases are regioselectively alkylated and the desired products are obtained in moderate to high yields under microwave irradiation for 8 min in water as the solvent and in the presence of Et3N as the base.
modified nucleoside; microwave irradiation; water
