In addition, the removal of the nucleophilic hydroxyl renders the ribozyme inactive as it is not able to create the cleavage site. More specifically, if the 2'-ribose or 2'-OH is replaced with a 2'-deoxyribose or 2'-H, there are no electrons available to perform the nucleophilic attack on the adjacent phosphate group. This results in no phosphoester bond being formed, which again inactivates the ribozyme's enzymatic cleavage ability.
