Intrinsic Low Temperature Paramagnetism in B-DNA

TL;DR

This study reveals that B-DNA exhibits intrinsic paramagnetism below 20 K, linked to its molecular structure and potential long-range coherent transport, contrasting with diamagnetic A-DNA.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of low-temperature paramagnetism in B-DNA and proposes orbital paramagnetism as its origin, connecting magnetic properties to molecular structure.

Findings

B-DNA shows paramagnetism below 20 K

A-DNA remains diamagnetic down to 2 K

Orbital paramagnetism may be responsible for the phenomena

Abstract

We present experimental study of magnetization in $\lambda$-DNA in conjunction with structural measurements. The results show the surprising interplay between the molecular structures and their magnetic property. In the B-DNA state, $\lambda$-DNA exhibits paramagnetic behaviour below 20 K that is non-linear in applied magnetic field whereas in the A-DNA state, remains diamagnetic down to 2 K. We propose orbital paramagnetism as the origin of the observed phenomena and discuss its relation to the existence of long range coherent transport in B-DNA at low temperature.