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A method of analysing melting profiles of stacked polynucleotides is described. This method assumes that the melting process is non‐cooperative and that the optical parameter is proportional to the degree of stacking, but requires no assumption concerning the properties of the polymer in the fully stacked or fully unstacked conformation. It is equally applicable to absorption, optical rotation or circular dichroism data. The method has been applied to a high precision absorbance‐temperature profile of alkaline polyadenylic acid and has enabled the calculation, subject to the assumptions noted above, of the absorption spectra of this material in both the fully stacked conformation and in the random coil conformation. It is suggested that not all the hypochromism of the polymer with respect to the monomer can be accounted for in terms of stacking.
E. G. Richards (Tue,) studied this question.