Nucleoside homodimerisation by cross metathesis

The cross metathesis of 3′-allylic analogues of thymidine, 2′-deoxyuridine and 2′-deoxycytidine is used to obtain nucleoside dimers, in which an unsaturated hydrocarbon chain links the 3′ positions of the sugar moieties. The biological activity on HIV infected cells was also evaluated.