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
Conjugate acid use of lactic acid’s conjugate base known as lactate in Lactated Ringer's solution and Hartmann's solution. Lactic acid has the formula and its conjugate base is used in intravenous fluids that consist of sodium and potassium cations along with lactate and chloride anions in solution with distilled water. These fluids are commonly isotonic in relation to human blood and are commonly used for spiking up the fluid level in a system after severe blood loss due to trauma, surgery, or burn injury. Tabulated below are several examples of acids and their conjugate bases; notice how they differ by just one