Nucleic acid Nucleic acid Nucleic acids are the biopolymers, or small biomolecules, essential to all known forms of life. The term "nucleic acid" is the overall name for DNA and RNA. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. If the sugar is a compound ribose, the polymer is RNA (ribonucleic acid); if the sugar is derived from ribose as deoxyribose, the polymer is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Nucleic acids are the most important of all biomolecules. They are found in abundance in all living things, where they
Carboxylic acid the electron-withdrawing effect of the carbonyl bond, which makes the terminal oxygen-hydrogen bond weaker and thus makes acid dissociation more favorable (lowers pKa). Carboxylic acids can be seen as reduced or alkylated forms of the Lewis acid carbon dioxide; under some circumstances they can be decarboxylated to yield carbon dioxide. Carboxylic acids are commonly identified using their trivial names, and usually have the suffix "-ic acid". IUPAC-recommended names also exist; in this system, carboxylic acids have an "-oic acid" suffix. For example, butyric acid (CHCOH) is butanoic acid by IUPAC guidelines. The "-oic acid" nomenclature detail is based on the