ELECTROOPTICAL AND HYDRODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF SYNTHETIC POLYRIBONUCLEOTIDES IN SOLUTIONS AS STUDIED BY ELECTRIC BIREFRINGENCE

The electro-optical and hydrodynamic properties of four synthetic polyribonucleic acids were clarified by electric birefringence methods which take the molecular-weight distribution into consideration. Parallel double-stranded helices, poly(adenylic acid). poly(protonated adenylic acid), I, and poly(cytidylic acid). poly(protonated cytidylic acid), II, are known to possess an electric permanent dipole moment, because the reversing-pulse electric birefringence (RPEB) signals of these duplexes exhibit dips upon pulse reversal. The RPEB signals of antiparallel double-stranded poly(adenylic acid). poly(uridylic acid), III, and poly(guanylic acid). poly(cytidylic acid), IV, show no dip; therefore, these polynucleotides have no permanent dipole moment. By analyzing the relaxation time of the birefringence decay signals, the axial translations of the polynucleotides per base-pair were determined to be 4.0 Angstrom A for I, 2.7 Angstrom A for III, and 2.4 Angstrom A for IV, respectively. By analyzing the dependence of the steady-state birefringence values on the electric-field strength, the magnitudes of the permanent dipole moments per unit length of I and II projected onto the helix axes were found to be ca. 0.4 debye Angstrom A(-1). The electric properties unraveled by electric birefringence experiments were compared with calculations based on a recent Manning theory. An unsaturable induced dipole moment may result from the polarization of the Debye-Huckel ion-atmosphere, while a saturable induced dipole moment is probably caused by the polarization of counter ions that are condensed on the charged sites of a polyion. The experimental values deviate from calculated values at ionic strengths lower than 0.0001; hence, the Manning theory is not applicable in this region.