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
Perfluorononanoic acid Perfluorononanoic acid Perfluorononanoic acid, or PFNA, is a synthetic perfluorinated carboxylic acid and fluorosurfactant that is also an environmental contaminant found in people and wildlife along with PFOS and PFOA. In acidic form it is a highly reactive strong acid. In its conjugate base form as a salt it is stable and commonly ion paired with ammonium. In the commercial product Surflon S-111 (CAS 72968-3-88) it is the primary compound present by weight. PFNA is used as surfactant for the production of the fluoropolymer polyvinylidene fluoride. It is produced mainly in Japan by the oxidation of a linear fluorotelomer olefin