University of Mons

About: University of Mons is a education organization based out in Mons, Belgium. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Large Hadron Collider & Standard Model. The organization has 3073 authors who have published 9465 publications receiving 294776 citations.

An artificial molecular machine that builds an asymmetric catalyst.

Abstract: Biomolecular machines perform types of complex molecular-level tasks that artificial molecular machines can aspire to. The ribosome, for example, translates information from the polymer track it traverses (messenger RNA) to the new polymer it constructs (a polypeptide) 1 . The sequence and number of codons read determines the sequence and number of building blocks incorporated into the biomachine-synthesized polymer. However, neither control of sequence2,3 nor the transfer of length information from one polymer to another (which to date has only been accomplished in man-made systems through template synthesis) 4 is easily achieved in the synthesis of artificial macromolecules. Rotaxane-based molecular machines5–7 have been developed that successively add amino acids8–10 (including β-amino acids 10 ) to a growing peptide chain by the action of a macrocycle moving along a mono-dispersed oligomeric track derivatized with amino-acid phenol esters. The threaded macrocycle picks up groups that block its path and links them through successive native chemical ligation reactions 11 to form a peptide sequence corresponding to the order of the building blocks on the track. Here, we show that as an alternative to translating sequence information, a rotaxane molecular machine can transfer the narrow polydispersity of a leucine-ester-derivatized polystyrene chain synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization 12 to a molecular-machine-made homo-leucine oligomer. The resulting narrow-molecular-weight oligomer folds to an α-helical secondary structure 13 that acts as an asymmetric catalyst for the Julia–Colonna epoxidation14,15 of chalcones. The ring of a rotaxane molecule traverses a polymer track picking up leucine amino acids and synthesizing a homo-leucine oligomer, which in turn folds into an alpha helix and catalyses a chemical reaction.

Measurement of the B ± production cross-section in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV

Abstract: Measurements of the total and differential cross sections with respect to transverse momentum and rapidity for B+ mesons produced in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV are presented. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.8 inverse picobarns collected by the CMS experiment operating at the LHC. The exclusive decay B+ to J/psi K+, with the J/psi decaying to an oppositely charged muon pair, is used to detect B+ mesons and to measure the production cross section as a function of the transverse momentum and rapidity of the B. The total cross section for p_t(B) > 5 GeV and |y(B)| < 2.4 is measured to be 28.1 +/- 2.4 +/- 2.0 +/- 3.1 microbarns, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the last is from the luminosity measurement.

Measurement of the tt̄ production cross section in pp collisions at 7 TeV in lepton+jets events using b-quark jet identification

Abstract: A new measurement of the inclusive production cross section for pp to t t-bar is performed at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns, and is based on the final state with one isolated, high transverse momentum muon or electron, missing transverse energy, and hadronic jets. The ttbar content of the selected events is enhanced by requiring the presence of at least one jet consistent with b-quark hadronization. The measured cross section is 150 +/- 9 (stat.) +/- 17 syst.) +/- 6 (lumi.) pb and is in agreement with higher-order QCD calculations. The combination of this measurement with a previous CMS result based on dileptons gives 154 +/- 17 (stat.+syst.) +/- 6 (lumi.) pb.