The optical density unit, or more commonly the OD260 unit, is a spectrophotometric measurement of an oligonucleotide. It is a normalized unit of measurement that is defined as the amount of oligonucleotide required to give an absorbance reading of 1.0 at 260 nm in 1.0 mL of solution using a 1 cm light path. Each of the bases in a nucleic acid strand has an absorbance at or near 260 nanometers, due to their conjugated double bond systems. Because the exact base sequence and composition is known, the OD260 unit is a precise method to quantify an oligonucleotide. Utilizing absorbance measurements is the recommended method for quantitating or aliquotting an oligonucleotide.
