Acridine orange–poly (α‐ L ‐glutamic acid) complexes. I. Stoichiometry and stacking coefficients

By means of fluorescence, absorption, and acid‐base titrations, it has been shows that there is a one‐to‐one correspondence between free carboxylates and bound acridine orange in the dye‐polyacid complex. Contrary to expections, stacking coefficients for the dye were found to be virtually the same on binding to the helical or coiled polyacid, indicating a strong similarity in the binding sites for both forms of the polyelectrolyte.