The quenching of o-phenanthroline fluorescence by nucleic acids and its analytical applications

When excited with ultraviolet light of 230 nm or 267 nm, o- phenanthroline can emit fluorescence at 367 nm. In the pH around 6.2, nucleic acids, including fish sperm deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), thermally denatured fish sperm DNA and yeast ribonucleic acid (RNA), can quench this fluorescence emission without causing deformation or shift of the excitation and emission peaks. This reaction can be used to determine the nucleic acids in solution sensitively and in a comparably wide range of concentration.