Published Papers

A Proposed Structure for the Nucleic Acids. February 1953

< Previous Paper     The π Helix - A Hydrogen Bonded Configuration...

Back to Published Papers Index

Next Paper > Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids

Title:	A proposed structure for the nucleic acids
Creator:	Pauling, Linus, 1901-
Contributor:	Corey, Robert
Publisher:	National Academy of Sciences.
Date:	1953-02-00
Subject:	Nucleic acids -- Structure
Description:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 84-97. February, 1953.
Type:	Text
Format:	text/plain
Language:	en
Identifier:	proposedstruct1953-pg07.jpg
Source:	Master scanned with Epson GT-10000+ flatbed scanner at 600 dpi.
Rights:	http://osulibrary.orst.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/dna/copyright.html
Full Text:	would be attached to one of the two inner oxygen atoms, and presumably would be involved in hydrogen-bond formation with another of the inner oxygen atoms, of an adjoining phosphate group.­he length of the O—H ... O bond should be close to that observed in potassium dihydrogen phosphate, 2.55 Å.­he angle P—0—H should be approximately the tetrahedral angle.¢t is found that the spacing 3.4 Å is not compatible with this bond angle, if the hydrogen bonds are formed between one phosphate group and a group in the layer above or below it. [Caption: FIGURE 4 Perspective drawing of a portion of the nucleic acid structure, showing the phosphate tetrahedra near the axis of the molecule, the β-D-ribofuranose rings connecting the tetrahedra into chains, and the attached purine and pyrimidine rings (represented as purine rings in this drawing}. The molecule is inverted with respect to the coordinates given in table 1.]Å¡ccordingly we assume that hydrogen bonds are formed between the oxygen atoms of the phosphate groups in the same basal plane, along outer edges of the octahedron in figure 1. The maximum distance between the oxygen atoms 3' and 5' of a ribofuranose or deoxyribofuranose residue permitted by the accepted structural parameters (C—C = 1.54 Å, C—O = 2.43 Å, bond angles tetrahedral, with the minimum distortion required by the five-membered ring, one atom of