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Role of Covalent Bonds in Nucleic Acids

Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a long and complex molecule but a stable one, held together by covalent bonds--the sharing of electrons between atoms to form a stable whole.

  1. Covalence

    • In a covalent bond, two atoms share a pair of electrons between them. A hydrogen atom, H2, is a covalent bond. So, too, is the carbon-carbon bond found in such organic compounds as ethanol, methanol and benzene.

    Ionic Bonds

    • In ionic bonds, electrons transfer completely between atoms, leaving one with a negative charge (it lacks an electron) and one with a positive charge (it has gained an electron). Sodium chloride (Na+Cl-) is an example. Covalent bonds are far stronger than ionic bonds.

    Nucleic Acids

    • The nucleic acid DNA has been likened to a zipper: It has two long halves made of four nucleotides--adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. The nucleotides repeat and mix for a unique DNA code.

    Ester Bonds

    • DNA molecules have two types of covalent bonds. The first is between the nucleotides on half of the helix. These "ester bonds" are covalent carbon-oxygen-carbon (C-O-C) bonds.

    Hydrogen Bonds

    • The second are covalent hydrogen bonds, which form between the nucleotides on either side of the helix.
      No ionic bonds are present; thus, DNA is a very stable compound.

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