Formaldehyde interacts with RNA rather than DNA: Accumulation of formaldehyde by the RNA-inorganic hybrid material.

Formaldehyde (HCHO) has been known to react with a nucleobase which possesses an amino group and denatures the nucleic acid, such as RNA and DNA. Therefore, we demonstrated the accumulation of HCHO from an aqueous solution by the water-insoluble nucleic acid-inorganic hybrid materials which were prepared by mixing the nucleic acid with a silane coupling reagent (SiNSi). As a result, the water-insoluble nucleic acid-SiNSi hybrid materials effectively accumulated the HCHO from an aqueous solution. In particular, at the maximum accumulated amount of HCHO, the molar ratios of RNA (ribonucleotide):HCHO and DNA (deoxyribonucleotide):HCHO were 1:0.055 and 1:0.015, respectively. Additionally, the accumulative mechanism of HCHO was related to the reaction between HCHO and the nucleobase with the amino group. Furthermore, the RNA material showed a conformational change at a low HCHO concentration and these conformational changes of RNA were greater than that of DNA. These results suggested that HCHO molecule interacts with RNA rather than DNA.