Term: nucleic acids
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.N04245

Definition:
Macromolecules, the major organic matter of the nuclei of biological cells, made up of nucleotide units, and hydrolysable into certain pyrimidine or purine bases (usually adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine, uracil), d-ribose or 2-deoxy-d-ribose and phosphoric acid. N04245.png

Related Terms:
1) nucleotide (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.N04255).
2) pyrimidine (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.P04958).
3) purine bases (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.P04953).
4) deoxyribonucleic acids (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.D01597).
5) ribonucleic acids (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.R05386).

Image: Not defined (https://goldbook.iupac.org/img/inline/N04245.png) 

Source: PAC, 1995, 67, 1307. 'Glossary of class names of organic compounds and reactivity intermediates based on structure (IUPAC Recommendations 1995)' on page 1352 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199567081307)

Citation: 'nucleic acids' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.N04245

License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.

Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.