A sublimation technique was developed to isolate purines and pyrimidines directly from lambda-deoxyribonucleic acid (lambda-DNA) and Escherichia coli cells. The sublimation of adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine from lambda-DNA was tested under reduced pressure (approximately 0.5 Torr) at temperatures of >150 degrees C. With the exception of guanine, approximately 60-75% of each base was su...
