Temperature‐dependent properties of dinucleoside phosphates

Abstract

Abstract The optical rotatory dispersion, hypochromism, and proton magnetic resonance were measured for a number of dinucleoside phosphates in both dilute salt solutions and in 25.2% LiCl (which freezes below −70°C.) as a function of temperature. Two models for the “disordering” of dinucleoside phosphates: the two‐state model and the oscillating dimer model, are used to analyze the data. Both models fit some of the data, but neither are completely satisfactory. Evidence is given for a dynamic structure of dinucleoside phosphates, in which the bases oscillate with respect to one another, remaining parallel to one another with no solvent in between, even at high temperatures. Implications of this model to the structures of single‐strand sections of RNA's are discussed.