Nucleotides and Nucleic acids By Prof. Dr. Adel M. Awadallah Organic chemistry for medicine and biology students Chem 2311 Chapter 18 Nucleotides and Nucleic acids By Prof. Dr. Adel M. Awadallah Islamic University of Gaza

Nucleic acids (DNA & RNA) are linear, chain macromolecules that were first isolated from cell nuclei. They have a backbone of sugar molecules, each with a base attached, connected by phosphate links.

Nucleosides N-Glycosides

A nucleoside is an N-Glycoside A nucleoside is an N-Glycoside. The pyrimidine or purine base is connected to the anomeric carbon of the sugar. The pyrimidines are connected at N-1 and the purines are connected at N-9.

Nucleosides are water soluble Nucleosides are water soluble. They can be hydrolyzed by aqueous acid or enzymes to the sugar and heterocyclic base

The primary structure of DNA