Hexitol nucleic acids (HNAs) are DNA analogues that contain the standard nucleoside bases attached to a phosphorylated 1,5-anhydrohexitol backbone. We find that HNAs support efficient information transfer in nonenzymatic template-directed reactions. HNA heterosequences appeared to be superior to the corresponding DNA heterosequences in facilitating synthesis of complementary oligonucleotides from nucleoside-5'-phosphoro-2-methyl imidazolides.