Is it appropriate to heat samples to 90°C?
Heating samples to 90°C for several minutes is often recommended in molecular biology protocols to denature potential secondary structure when working with deprotected, single stranded RNA oligos. In general, we recommend a more mild treatment of heating the RNA oligo to 55-60°C for 5 minutes to denature possible secondary structure. While heating to 90°C also achieves the same result, there is a potential for degradation if the RNA oligo is left at this temperature for an extended period of time.