Nucleic chromonics

The crucial studies justifying the view that the nucleic acids are chromonic can be listed as ... 

The gathering together of drug, dye, and nucleic acid systems under the heading of chromonics has been more than just a taxonomic exercise. It has enabled observations from one area of study to throw light on another. The term isodesmic , for example, is not generally used in the dye industry, but it neatly describes a pattern of behavior that... 

Concerning the term chromonic, this word was coined to replace phrases such as lyotropic mesophases of the types formed by soluble aromatic mesogens . It was intended to echo the bis-chromone structure of DSCG and to carry connotations of dyes and chromosomes (and hence nucleic acids). It was also intended to mark Hart-shorne s studies of DSCG (which although by no means the first such mesophase system to be explored, was one of the most extensively examined), and it is to Norman Hartshome, who taught me and many others a love of optical microscopy, that I respectfully dedicate this chapter. 

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