DNA DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses. DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are nucleic acids; alongside proteins, lipids and complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides), nucleic acids are one of the four major types of macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life. The two DNA strands are also known as polynucleotides as they are composed of simpler monomeric units called nucleotides. Each nucleotide is composed
Mesoxalic acid and reacts with water to form a product commonly called "mesoxalic acid (mono)hydrate", more properly dihydroxymalonic acid, HO-(C=O)-C(OH)-(C=O)-OH. In product catalogs and other contexts, the terms "mesoxalic acid", "oxomalonic acid", etc. often refer to this "hydrated" compound. In particular, the product traded as "sodium mesoxalate monohydrate" is almost always sodium dihydroxymalonate. Mesoxalic acid can be obtained synthetically by hydrolysis of alloxan with baryta water, by warming caffuric acid with lead acetate solution, or from glycerin diacetate and concentrated nitric acid in the cold. The product can be obtained also by oxidation of tartronic acid It is also prepared by the