A large increase in the melting temperature of complementary oligonucleotides was obtained through the conjugation of terpyridine ligands at their nearby 5′ or 3′ ends and the addition of stoichiometric amounts of various transition metals. We describe here a short efficient synthetic route for the conjugation of terpyridine moieties and report new data on the stabilizing contribution of metal-assisted hybridization of oligonucleotides through UV-monitored melting temperature experiments.Key words: oligonucleotides, metal complexes, terpyridine.