Patent ID: 7771935

Claim:
An in vitro method of inducing a reaction between first and second reactive units during a nucleic acid-templated chemical reaction, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing (i) a template comprising a first reactive unit covalently attached to a first oligonucleotide comprising a codon and (ii) a transfer unit comprising a second reactive unit covalently associated with a second oligonucleotide comprising an anti-codon capable of annealing to said codon, wherein said codon or said anti-codon comprise first and second spaced apart regions; and (b) annealing said first and second oligonucleotides thereby to bring said first reactive unit and said second reaction unit into reactive proximity and produce a reaction product that is not a nucleic acid, wherein, upon annealing, said codon or said anti-codon having said first and second spaced apart regions anneal to the corresponding anti-codon or codon via said first and second spaced apart regions to produce a loop of oligonucleotides disposed between said first and second spaced apart regions that are not annealed to the corresponding anti-codon or codon, wherein the loop of oligonucleotides permits the codon to anneal to the corresponding anti-codon and bring the first and second reactive units into reactive proximity.