For nucleic acids, the building block is a nucleotide. A nucleotide has three chemically distinct components. One is a heterocyclic compound, the second is a monosaccharide and the third is phosphoric acid or phosphate.
The heterocyclic compounds in nucleic acids are the nitrogenous bases named adenine, guanine, uracil, cytosine, and thymine. Adenine and guanine are substituted purines while the rest are substituted pyrimidines.
The skeletal heterocyclic ring is called as purine and pyrimidine, respectively. The sugar found in polynucleotides is either ribose (a monosaccharide pentose) or 2' deoxyribose. A nucleic acid containing deoxyribose is called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), while that which contains ribose is called ribonucleic acid (RNA).