Atomic Structures of the Molecular Components in DNA and RNA based on Bond Lengths as Sums of Atomic Radii

TL;DR

This paper interprets bond lengths in DNA and RNA components as sums of atomic radii, providing a new atomic-level perspective on their molecular structures based on literature data.

Contribution

It extends the atomic radii sum interpretation to nucleic acid components, offering a novel atomic structural resolution for DNA and RNA molecules.

Findings

Bond lengths closely match sums of atomic covalent radii.

Conventional molecular structures are resolved into probable atomic structures.

Provides atomic-level insight into nucleic acid components.

Abstract

The interpretation by the author in recent years of bond lengths as sums of the relevant atomic or ionic radii has been extended here to the bonds in the skeletal structures of adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine, uracil, ribose, deoxyribose and phosphoric acid. On examining the bond length data in the literature, it has been found that the averages of the bond lengths are close to the sums of the corresponding atomic covalent radii of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and phosphorus. Thus, the conventional molecular structures have been resolved here, for the first time, into probable atomic structures.