Fundamentholfundamenthol
JEE Main2026Jan 23, Shift 2Chemistry
Q.

Both human DNA and RNA are chiral molecules. The chirality in DNA and RNA arises due to the presence of

  1. A

    Base unit

  2. B

    Chiral phosphate unit

  3. C

    D-sugar component

  4. D

    L-sugar component

Solution

The chirality of nucleic acids comes from their sugar backbone.

DNA uses D-2-deoxyribose and RNA uses D-ribose. Both are D-sugars with stereocentres on their ring carbons, which makes the entire macromolecule chiral.

Bases and phosphate groups are achiral in this context, so the correct answer is the D-sugar component.

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