Thermodynamic coupling of the loop and stem in unusually stable DNA hairpins closed by CG base pairs

For certain DNA hairpin loops, a CG closing base pair has enhanced stability over other closing base pairs, which cannot be explained by the current nearest-neighbor model. We report the use of three-carbon (C3) spacers to investigate the expandability of DNA hairpin loops and the coupling between the loop and closing base pair. Inserting the C3-spacers at most positions in these model loops produced only a modest stabilization or destabilization except for insertion between the 5' end of the loop and the CG closing base pair, which gave a large destabilization. Further investigation on tetraloops and triloops with other closing base pairs established that this destabilization is specific to the unusually stable CG closing base pair. Studies with the nucleotide analogues 2-aminopurine and 2,6-diaminopurine indicated that this stabilization may be due to coupling between functional groups on the first base of the loop and the CG closing base pair. The C3-spacers provide a simple way to interrupt potential interactions and thereby probe loop/stem coupling.     

Parity of the weak Fréedericksz transition

The European Physical Journal E - Motivated by the recent experimental findings by Kumar et al. (Phys. Rev. E., 82, 011701 (2010)) in which the inverse Fréedericksz transition is observed, we...     

Studies on the Reactivity of 4-Acetoxy-3-acylamino-2-azetidinones: Stereospecific trans Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation

The recent publication of Reuschling and co-workers2 on the synthesis of a carbapenem utilizing, as the key step in the sequence, the stereospecific C-C coupling of 3-substituted-acetoxy-2-azetidinones with cuprates, prompts us to report our related work in this area.     

Coherent population trapping spectra in presence of ac magnetic fields

Experimental and theoretical investigations are reported on the effects induced by an alternating magnetic field on coherent population trapping resonances. We show that the ac magnetic field produces sidebands of these resonances in such a way that the spectrum observed is similar to those observed via the FM spectroscopic technique. Because of the very narrow linewidth of the resonances, sidebands are resolved even for ac field frequencies as low as a fraction of a kHz. The theoretical model developed, which takes into account a very simple atomic structure, fits the experimental data quite well.