Abstract
The theory of anisotropic light scattering developed by Nagai is valid for any macro molecular structure. It is applied here to the calculation of polarized light scattering from DNA in a completely rigid configuration. This configuration is the one adopted by DNA fragment molecules of low molecular weight. The polarized light-scattering characteristics of such a rigid configuration are adequately represented by the model of an infinitely thin rod with two polarizabilities. The influence of the double helical structure of finite thickness is vanishingly small. The rod model is used to establish the range of validity of Nagai’s approximate formulas. This range is extremely limited; for DNA fragments: θ≤10°. It is suggested that the best analysis of light-scattering data, whether polarized or unpolarized, is to use the exact formulas of the rod model, instead of looking for limiting laws valid either at low or high angles.
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García, J., Horta, A. Anisotropic Light Scattering from the Rigid Structure of DNA. Polym J 9, 33–39 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1295/polymj.9.33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1295/polymj.9.33