How is the absorption of ultraviolet light by DNA and RNA important in the analysis of nucleic acids?

Video transcript

Hey, everyone. Let's take a look at this practice problem together, the maximum absorbance of nucleic acids is observed at blank. The answer options are a 220 nm Being 260 nm. C 320 nm or D 360 nm. The word absorbent in the question. In addition to nanometers being in each of the answer options tells us that we are talking about U V light. So at what wavelength do nucleic acids have maximum absorbents? Now, this is something that you have to know and recall at minimum, you should recall that they are within the two hundreds. This means that we can eliminate both option C nanometers and D 360 nanometers At 220 nm proteins absorb light. That means we can also eliminate option A it is at 260 nm that nucleic acids have maximum absorbents. Now, this is due to their double bond within the purine and Perine rings. Now, the absorbance of nucleic acids at that 260 nm is often used to detect and quantify DNA using U V spectrometry. So again, the correct answer is option B- 260 nm. All right, everyone. I hope you found this helpful and I'll see you soon for the next practice problem.