Electric birefringence and dichroism of acridine orange and methylene blue complexes with polynucleotides

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Abstract
Electro‐optic measurements are reported for the polynucleotides poly A, poly U, poly G, and NaDNA, and their complexes with acridine orange (AO). Measurements were also made on the methylene blue (MB) complex with NaDNA. Poly U, poly G, and NaDNA complexes with AO as well as the NaDNA–MB complex were found to exhibit positive birefringence and perpendicular dichroism indicating the dye molecules are oriented with their long axes perpendicular to the applied electric field. The opposite was found for the AO complex with poly A, which showed positive birefringence and parallel dichroism, indicating that in this case the dye molecules are oriented with their long axes parallel to the field.