Initiating a crystallographic study of UDP-galactopyranose mutase from escherichia coli. erratum

In the paper by McMahon, Leonard, Buchanan, Giraud & Naismith [Acta Cryst. (1999). D55, 399-402] an author's error has resulted in the fifth sentence of the Abstract being incorrect. The sentence should read 'They are monoclinic, space group P21, with unit-cell dimensions a = 71.12, b = 58.42, c = 96.38 A, beta = 96.38 degrees. 92% (native) and 94% (selenomethionine) complete data sets have been recorded to 2.9 A (Rmerge = 5.0%) and 3.0 A (Rmerge = 6.9%), respectively.'     

Flavour tagging of parton jets and separation of parton subprocesses in hard proton-proton collisions at the ISR

High energy proton-proton interactions yielding a single trigger particle with large transverse momentum give rise to a four-jet event structure with two transverse jets and two jets along the beam direction. The transverse jets are due to the fragmentation of point like scattered partons. It is shown that the quantum numbers of triggering charged pions and positive kaons are correlated with the flavour of the scattered parent parton; thus one can enhance data samples with a particular flavour of a scattered parton. The analysis, which is independent of detailed model calculations, exploits (a) the identification of the leading particles in the trigger jets (trigger particles), (b) the measurement of their relative production rates, (c) short range quantum number correlations within the trigger jets, and (d) long range correlations between leading particles from different jets. The data were obtained at \(\sqrt s \) =62 GeV with the Split Field Magnet detector at the CERN ISR.     

Highp T hadrons as leading particles in jets produced at the ISR

The density of charged particles near a single highp _T trigger particle in proton-proton collisions has been studied with the SFM detector at the CERN-ISR. It is shown that:—the secondaries cluster in a jet-like manner about the trigger particle; —the momentum distributions in this trigger jet can be unambiguously separated from the spectator background distributions;—the momentum distributions in this trigger jet can be unambiguously separated from the spectator background distributions;—the momentum component transverse to the jet direction is exponentially damped;—the width of the transverse distributions increases with the momentum component along the jet;—the fractional longitudinal momentum density depends strongly on the trigger transverse momentum and scales with \(x_T = {{2p_T } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{2p_T } {\sqrt s }}} \right. \kern-0em} {\sqrt s }}\) . All these findings support the hard constituent scattering origin of highp _T hadrons.     

Photodegradation of poly(vinyl esters)—I. Formation and quantitative measurement of volatile products

The high vacuum distillation technique for the analysis of photolysis products has highlighted both the extreme difficulty of removing residual solvent and the slow diffusion of photodegradation products from thin cast poly(vinyl ester) films, even at temperatures 130°C above T_g. Very long product collection periods at temperatures just below the onset of thermal degradation were used in order to obtain reliable quantitative data. The distributions of liquid-nitrogen condensable products indicated that a closer relationship exists between the photodegradation of poly(vinyl esters) and the photolysis of low molecular mass esters than previous results had suggested.     

Quantitative analysis of receptors for adenosine nucleotides obtained via in vitro selection from a library incorporating a cationic nucleotide analog.

5-(3"-Aminopropynyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (dJ), a modified nucleoside with a side chain carrying a cationic functional group, was incorporated into an oligonucleotide library, which was amplified using the Vent DNA polymerase in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). When coupled to an in vitro selection procedure, PCR amplification generated receptors that bind ATP. This is the first example of an in vitro selection generating oligonucleotide receptors where the oligonucleotide library has incorporated a cationic nucleotide functionality. The selection yielded functionalized receptors having sequences differing from a motif known to arise in a standard selection experiment using only natural nucleotides. Surprisingly, both the natural and the functionalized motifs convergently evolved to bind not one, but two ATP molecules cooperatively. Likewise, the affinity of the receptors for ATP had converged; in both cases, the receptors are half saturated at the 3 mM concentrations of ATP presented during the selection. The convergence of phenotype suggests that the outcome of this selection experiment was determined by features of the environment during which selection occurs, in particular, a highly loaded affinity resin used in the selection step. Further, the convergence of phenotype suggests that the optimal molecular phenotype has been achieved by both selections for the selection conditions. This interplay between environmental conditions demanding a function of a biopolymer and the ability of the biopolymer to deliver that function is strictly analogous to that observed during natural selection, illustrating the nature of life as a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution.     

Negative ions generated by reactions with oxygen in the chemical ionization source. I. Characterization of gas-phase and wall-catalyzed reactions of fluorene,anthracene and fluoranthene

The methane negative ion chemical ionization (NICI) mass spectra of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are usually dominated by molecular, M^{? ˙} or M ? H^? ions; however, ions resulting from additions to M have also been reported. Some of these ions have been observed at [M + 14]^{? ˙}, [M + 15]^?, [M + 30]^? and [M + 32]^?˙ and have been attributed to reactions with either oxygen-containing impurities in the buffer gas or alkyl radical species generated by ionization of a hydrocarbon buffer gas. In this study, the NICI spectra of fluorene, anthracene and fluoranthene were studied in detail using quadrupole and Fourier transform mass spectrometers. Spectra were acquired when reactive species such as oxygen, water, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide were added to the nitrogen buffer gas. Experiments with deuterated methane were also carried out. These studies indicated that buffer gas impurities affect the NICI spectra; however, gas-phase ion-molecule reactions were not responsible for all of the observed products. In addition to electron- and ion-molecule reactions, ions were observed that resulted from wall-catalyzed oxidation reactions followed by electron capture. These reactions were enhanced by the addition of oxygen and elevated ion source temperatures. Depending upon the parent PAH structure, oxidation products such as ketones, quinones and anhydrides were formed.     

Bridged ring systems—XIII The synthesis of cycloheptene carboxylic acids

β-(2-Oxocyclopentyl)ethylaryl ketones are transformed under acid conditions via a 2-aryl-bicyclo[3.2.1]oct-2-en-8-one intermediate into a mixture of arylcycloheptene carboxylic acids. The scope and the mechanism of the reaction are both discussed.