DNA page: A chemical compound is not the same as the molecules that compose it.

[desu]

Hi! I see the page about deoxyribonucleic acid starts with this clause:

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a very large biological molecule [...].

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/DNA

The problem's this: It's the part that says "molecule" instead of "chemical compound" or just "compound". Deoxyribonucleic acid is a chemical compound, not a molecule. It is composed of molecules, but that doesn't mean that a compound is the same as a molecule. A chemical substance is not the same as the particles that compose that chemical substance. So I suggest it read something like this:

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a chemical compound composed of very large biological molecules [...].

Then you'd have to change the following clause and sentences accordingly. Please tell the editors who're in charge of this page to review that aspect of the text! Thanks!

[Chris Day]

Is this a problem of the biologist's vs the chemist's concept of DNA? A typical biologist would never think of DNA as a compound but rather a functioning molecule in the cell. Technically, it is correct to call it a compound, but it is a very strange visual for a biologist. What next?

[Greg Woodhouse]

Technically, it is correct to call it a compound, but it is a very strange visual for a biologist. What next?

Water is a molecule....   

(Okay, so maybe that isn't the best example if you think about hydrogen bonds.  )