Spacer 18 (hexaethyleneglycol)

Spacer 18 is a hexaethylene glycol chain that is 18 atoms long (12 carbons + 6 oxygens), and is used to incorporate a long spacer arm into an oligonucleotide. Spacer 18 can be incorporated in consecutive additions whenever a longer spacer is required. Spacer 18 had been used to form bold folds and hairpin loops in oligonucleotides (1,2), and for solid-phase immobilization of hybridization probes (3). Spacer 18 has also been used to modify random primers used in whole genome amplification (WGA)-based applications, as a way to eliminate self-priming events that form spurious DNA products (that is, false-positive amplification) in the PCR reactions (4).

References
1. Salunkhe, M., Wu, T.F., Letsinger, R.L. Control of folding and binding of oligonucleotides by use of non-nucleotide linker. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1992), 114: 8768-8772.
2. Durand, M., Chevrie, K., Chassignol, M., Thuong, N.T., Maurizot, J. Circular dichroism studies of an oligodeoxyribonucleotide containing a hairpin loop made of a hexaethylene glycol chain: conformation and stability.Nucleic Acids Res. (1990), 18: 6353-6359.
3. Zhang, Y., Coyne, M.Y., Will, S.G., Levenson, C.H., Kawasaki, E.S. Single-base mutational analysis of cancer and genetic diseases using membrane bound modified oligonucleotides. Nucleic Acids Res. (1991), 19: 3929-3933.
4. Brukner, I., Paquin, B., Belouchi, M., Labuda, D., Krajinovic, M. Self-priming arrest by modified random oligonucleotides facilitates the quality control of whole genome amplification.Anal. Biochem. (2005), 339: 345-347.
- Spacer 18 (hexaethyleneglycol)