Raman difference spectroscopy is used to probe the properties of a 36-nt RNA molecule, “D5”, which lies at the heart of the catalytic apparatus in group II introns. For D5 that has all its adenine residues labeled with 13C and 15N, and utilizing Raman difference spectroscopy, we identify the conformational sensitive -C-O-P-O-C- stretching modes of the unlabeled bonds adjacent to adenine bases, as well as the adenine ring modes themselves. The phosphodiester modes can be assigned to individual adenine residues based on earlier NMR data. The effect of Mg2+ binding was explored by analyzing the Raman difference spectra for [D5 + Mg2+] minus [D5 no Mg2+], for D5 unlabeled, or D5 labeled with 13C/15N-enriched adenine. In both sets of data we assign differential features to G ring modes perturbed by Mg2+ binding at the N7 position. In the A labeled spectra we attribute a Raman differential near 1450 cm−1 and changes of intensity at 1296 cm−1 to Mg binding at the N7 position of adenine bases. The A and G bases involved in Mg2+ binding again can be identified using earlier NMR results. For the unlabeled D5, a change in the C-O-P-O-C stretch profile at 811 cm−1 upon magnesium binding is due to a “tightening up” (in the sense of a more rigid molecule with less dynamic interchange among competing ribose conformers) of the D5 structure. For adenine labeled D5, small changes in the adenine backbone bond signatures in the 810 – 830 cm−1 region suggest small conformational changes occur in the tetraloop and bulge regions upon binding of Mg2+. The PO2− stretching vibration, near 1100 cm−1, from the non-bridging phosphate groups, probes the effect of Mg2+-hydrate inner-sphere interactions that cause an up-shift. In turn, the up-shift is modulated by the presence of monovalent cations since in the presence of Na+ and Li+ the up-shift is (23±2 cm−1) while in the presence of K+ and Cs+ it is (13±3 cm−1), a finding that correlates with the differences in hydration radii. These subtle differences in electrostatic interactions may be related to observed variations in catalytic activity. For a reconstructed ribozyme comprising domains 1–3 (D123) connected in cis plus domain 5 (D5) supplied in trans, cleavage of spliced exon substrates in the presence of magnesium and K+ or Cs+ is more efficient than that in the presence of magnesium with Na+ or Li+.