Patent ID: 7541455

Claim:
A method for conducting a bisulfite-catalyzed reaction of a compound, the compound selected from the group consisting of cytosine, cytidine, deoxycytidine, cytidine triphosphate, deoxycytidine triphosphate, cytidylate, deoxycytidylate, and a polynucleotide comprising cytidine or deoxycytidine, the method comprising the steps of: activating a C4 amino group of a cytosine ring of the compound by reacting the compound with bisulfite to form a bisulfite adduct of the compound having the structure: wherein R is H, ribosyl, 2′-deoxyribosyl, ribosyl-5′-phosphate, 2′-deoxyribosyl-5′-phosphate, ribosyl-5′-triphosphate, 2′-deoxyribosyl-5′-triphosphate, a ribosyl-5′-phosphate moiety of a polyribonucleotide or a 2′-deoxyribosyl-5′-phosphate moiety of a polydeoxyribonucleotide; and contacting the adduct with a nucleophile, thereby displacing the amino group with the nucleophile, the nucleophile selected from the group consisting of H 2 NNH 2 , NH 2 OH, H 2 NNHCONH 2 , H 2 NNHCSNH 2 , H 2 NNHCONH 2 NH 2 , H 2 NNHCSNH 2 NH 2 , H 2 NNH—Y1-Q-Y2-NHNH 2 , H 2 N—REP, H 2 NNH—REP, H 2 NNHCO—REP, H 2 NNHCS—REP, H 2 NNHCONH—REP, H 2 NNHCSNH—REP, H 2 NNHCONHNH—REP, H 2 NNHCSNHNH—REP, H 2 N-L-REP H 2 NNH-L-REP, H 2 NNHCO-L-REP, H 2 NNHCS-L-REP, H 2 NNHCONH-L-REP, H 2 NNHCSNH-L-REP, H 2 NNHCONHNH-L-REP, H 2 NNHCSNHNH-L-REP, H 2 NNH—Y1-Q-Y2-REP, and H 2 NNH—Y1-Q-Y2-NHNH-REP; wherein Y1 and Y2 are independently a bond or —C(O)—; Q is —(OCH 2 CH 2 ) n —, wherein n is 2 to 30; L is a bond or a linker group, the linker group comprising a linear repeating oxyalkyl group, a branched repeating oxyalkyl group, a linear aliphatic group, a mixed aliphatic-aromatic group, an aromatic group, an alicyclic group, a heteroaromatic group, or a heteroalicyclic group; and REP is a detectable reporter group; and wherein said activating step, said contacting step, or both, are conducted in the presence of microwave energy having a wavelength of between 1 mm and 1 meter and said bisulfite-catalyzed reaction is accelerated at a given temperature relative to said bisulfite-catalyzed reaction conducted at the same temperature in the absence of said microwave energy.