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Dependence of polynucleotide helix–coil transition theory on the ring closure exponent
Author(s) -
Klotz L. C.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.1969.360070212
Subject(s) - polynucleotide , exponent , helix (gastropod) , chemistry , stacking , ring (chemistry) , closure (psychology) , chain (unit) , electromagnetic coil , crystallography , thermodynamics , physics , quantum mechanics , ecology , philosophy , biochemistry , linguistics , organic chemistry , snail , economics , market economy , biology
Formulas are derived which relate the maximum slope of the helix‐coil transition in synthetic polynucleotides to the stacking free energy and to the exponent k in the expression for the probability of ring closure for polymer chains. The exact value of k has not yet been determined. By use of the derived formulas, it is then shown that estimates of the stacking free energy are sensitive enough to the value chosen for k , so that exact values of these energies must await a precise determination of k .