Small modifications to these compounds can be produced at mass when they are synthesized on a semiconductor scaffold by the company Twist. A methylene bridge can cause inaccessibility due to ring puckering in the “locked” version of these compounds. DMT is used as a protecting agent in the phosphoramidite (“phosphor-AM-uh-dite”) method of synthesizing these compounds. Short samples of these compounds are layered on top of a scaffold to form 3D structures of them nicknamed “origami.” The melting temperature of these compounds increases with the number of subunits that can form 3 hydrogen bonds instead of 2. Each subunit of these compounds consists of a phosphate, a 5-carbon sugar, and either a pyrimidine or purine. For 10 points, name this class of compounds exemplified by DNA and RNA. ■END■
ANSWER: nucleic acids [accept DNA until read; accept RNA until read and specific forms of RNA such as mRNA or tRNA until “RNA” is read; accept oligonucleotides; accept primers; prompt on polymers; prompt on oligomers]
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= Average correct buzz position