Quantification of RNA can be easily carried out exploiting the Beer-Lambert’s Law which defines the direct proportion between the concentration of a sample and the quantity of light absorbed. Based on the presence of purine and pyridine heterocyclic aromatic rings, nucleic acids are able to absorb light in the UV range around 260 nm.
In this application note, the PerkinElmer LAMBDA® 365+ UV/Vis spectrophotometer was used to construct a calibration curve and simply determine RNA concentration. In addition, purity of the RNA solution could be assessed evaluating the absorbance ratios.