Thymidine, also named as deoxythymidine, deoxyribosylthymine and thymine deoxyriboside, is a pyrimidine deoxynucleoside that is composed of the pyrimidine base thymine attached to the sugar deoxyribose. Thymidine is the DNA nucleoside T paired with deoxyadenosine (A) in DNA double helix. In cell biology it has been used to synchronize the cells in G1/early S phase. Thymidine occurs almost exclusively in DNA but it also occurs in the T-loop of tRNA. Thymidine is non-toxic and as part of one of the four nucleosides in DNA it is a naturally occurring compound existed in organisms and DNA viruses [1]. Thymidine is a nucleoside composed of a pentose sugar, deoxyribose, and a pyrimidine base thymine. Phosphorylation of thymidine with one, two or three phosphoric acid groups, can form dTMP (deoxythymidine monophosphate), dTDP, or dTTP. The molecular weight of thymidine is 242.229 u. The melting point is 185°C.
Reference:
[1] Meng S, Maragakis P, Papaloukas C, et al. DNA nucleoside interaction and identification with carbon nanotubes[J]. nano letters, 2007, 7(1): 45-50.