Activation energy of single-stranded DNA moving through cross-linked polyacrylamide gels at 300 V/cm effect of temperature on sequencing rate in high-electric-field capillary gel electrophoresis

In DNA sequencing, single-stranded DNA fragments are separated by gel electrophoresis. This separation is based on a sieving mechanism where DNA fragments are retarded as they pass through pores in the gel. In this paper, we present the mobility of DNA sequencing fragments as a function of temperature; mobility is determined in 4% T LongRanger gels at an electric field of 300 V/cm. The temperature dependence is compared with the predictions of the biased reptation model. The model predicts that the fragment length for the onset of biased reptation with stretching increases with the square of temperature; the data show that the onset of biased reptation with stretching decreases with temperature. Biased reptation fails to model accurately the temperature dependence of mobility. We analyzed the data and extracted the activation energy for passage of sequencing fragments through the gel. For fragments containing less than ca. 200 bases, the activation energy increases linearly with the number of bases at a rate of 25 J/mol per base; for longer fragments, the activation energy increases at a rate of 6.5 J/mol per base. This transition in the activation energy presumably reflects a change in conformation of the DNA fragments; small fragments exist in a random coil configuration and larger fragments migrate in an elongated configuration.     

Forensic classification of ballpoint pen inks using high performance liquid chromatography and infrared spectroscopy with principal components analysis and linear discriminant analysis

Several varieties of blue ballpoint pen inks were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The chromatographic data extracted at four wavelengths (254, 279, 370 and 400 nm) was analyzed individually and at a combination of these wavelengths by the soft independent modeling of class analogies (SIMCA) technique using principal components analysis (PCA) to estimate the separation between the pen samples. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) measured the probability with which an observation could be assigned to a pen class. The best resolution was obtained by HPLC using data from all four wavelengths together, differentiating 96.4% pen pairs successfully using PCA and 97.9% pen samples by LDA. PCA separated 60.7% of the pen pairs and LDA provided a correct classification of 62.5% of the pens analyzed by IR. The results of this study indicate that HPLC coupled with chemometrics provided a better discrimination of ballpoint pen inks compared to IR. The need to develop a suitable IR method for analysing blue ballpoint pen inks has been emphasized and it is hoped that the development of such a method would indeed provide a valuable tool for the non-destructive analysis of blue ballpoint pen ink samples for forensic purposes.     

Laser projection-patterned etching of (100) GaAs by gaseous HCl and CH3Cl

Laser projection-patterned etching of GaAs in a HCl and CH₃Cl atmosphere performed using a pulsed KrF-excimer laser (=248 nm, =15 ns) and deep-UV projection optics (resolution 2 m) is reported. The etching process carried out in a vacuum system having a base pressure of 10^–6 mbar is shown to result from a purely thermochemical reaction. Etching takes place in two steps: (i) between the laser pulses, the etchant gas reacts with the GaAs surface-atomic layer to form chlorination products (mainly As and Ga monochlorides), (ii) local laser surface heating results in the desorption of these products allowing further reaction of the gas with the surface. The influence of the etching parameters (laser energy density, gas pressure and pulse repetition rate) on the etch rate and the morphology of the etched features was studied. Etch rates up to 0.15 nm per pulse, corresponding to the removal of 0.5 GaAs molecular layer, are achieved. The spatial resolution of the etching process is shown to be controlled by the heat spread in the semiconductor and by the nonlinear dependence of the etch rate on the surface temperature. As a result, etched features smaller or larger than the projected features of the photomask are achieved depending on the laser energy density. Etched lines having a width of 1.3 m were obtained at low fluences by the projection of 2 m wide lines onto the GaAs surface.     

Hypothetical C(60) Metal-Cluster Fullerides and General Aspects of Tetrahedral Cluster Bonding

It is geometrically feasible to insert metal-metal-bonded M(4) tetrahedra and M(6) octahedra into the tetrahedral and octahedral holes, respectively, of the fcc C(60) lattice. The electronic structure of the hypothetical tetrahedral variants C(60)(M(4))(2), M = Rh, Co, is analyzed with approximate molecular orbital methods and band structure calculations. These compounds feature M-M and M-C(60) bonding and a variable degree of electron transfer to or from C(60). The C(60)(M(4))(2) phases should be metallic, but we have no way of predicting if they will be superconducting. A number of discrete molecular tetrahedral cluster compounds which serve as models for the solid state materials are analyzed. There is a clear indication that tetranuclear and even mononuclear Rh, Ir, and Co arene complexes should be relatively unstable.