The reaction of nucleotides with aqueous hypochlorous acid

It has been found that the rate of consumption of hypochlorous acid by the nucleotides cytidine monophosphate (CMP) and adenosine monophosphate (AMP) increases with decreasing pH. At pH 5.6, CMP and AMP are the primary consumers of free chlorine; at pH 7.6 guanosine monophosphate (GMP), as well as CMP and AMP, react readily with hypochlorous acid. At pH 10, the only consumer of hypochlorite is GMP. A parallel was found between the rate of inactivation of virus and the rate of consumption of free chlorine by two of the nucleotides; both the rate of virus inactivation and the rate of consumption of chlorine by AMP and CMP increase with decreasing pH. Under conditions of virus disinfection, uridine monophosphate (UMP) is quite unreactive with aqueous hypochlorous acid.