Exchange of Deuterium Between Methanol and Water: Vibrations of the Hydroxyl Group in Methanol and Methanol‐d: The Entropy of Methanol

New measurements of the equilibrium in the exchange reaction between methanol and heavy water, in conjunction with data in the literature, are considered in relation to the vibrations of the hydroxyl group, including the torsional degree of freedom. An interpretation is presented which allows for a torsional frequency of 250 cm—1, a value which is shown to be in reasonable agreement with the entropy from thermal data.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70402/2/JCPSA6-6-10-571-1.pd

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead