Nucleation on active centers in confined volumes

Kinetic equations describing nucleation on active centers are solved numerically to determine the number of supercritical nuclei, nucleation rate, and the number density of nuclei for formation both of droplets from vapor and also crystalline phase from vapor, solution, and melt. Our approach follows standard nucleation model, when the exhaustion of active centers is taken into account via the boundary condition, and thus no additional equation (expressing exhaustion of active centers) is needed. Moreover, we have included into our model lowering of supersaturation of a mother phase as a consequence of the phase transition process within a confined volume. It is shown that the standard model of nucleation on active centers (Avrami approach) gives faster exhaustion of active centers as compared with our model in all systems under consideration. Nucleation rate (in difference to standard approach based on Avrami model) is equal to the time derivative of the total number of nuclei and reaches some maximum with time. At lower nucleation barrier (corresponding to higher initial supersaturation or lower wetting angle of nucleus on the surface of active center) the exhaustion of active centers is faster. Decrease in supersaturation of the mother phase is faster at higher number of active centers.     

Strict stereocontrol by 2,4-O-di-tert-butylsilylene group on β-glucuronylations

Strict β-controlled glucuronylations without classical neighboring-group participation were achieved by the assistance of a 2,4-O-di-tert-butylsilylene group. Comparison of activation conditions and conformational analysis indicated that the strict β-selectivity was achieved by steric hindrance of the 2,4-O-di-tert-butylsilylene group and not by complex glycosyl intermediates.     

Thermoresponsive Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide)‐Based Block Copolymer Coating for Optimizing Cell Sheet Fabrication

Thermoresponsive surfaces are prepared via a spin‐coating method with a block copolymer consisting of poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PIPAAm) and poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) on polystyrene surfaces. The PBMA block suppresses the removal of deposited PIPAAm‐based polymers from the surface. The polymer coating affects the temperature‐dependent cellular behavior of the surfaces with respect to protein adsorption. By adjusting layer thicknesses, PBMA‐b‐PIPAAm‐coated surfaces are optimized to regulate the adhesion/detachment of cells by temperature changes. Thus, thermoresponsive polymer‐coated surfaces are able to harvest contiguous cell sheets with their basal extracellular matrix proteins.

     

An efficient protocol for the solid-phase synthesis of glycopeptides under microwave irradiation

A standardized and smooth protocol for solid-phase glycopeptides synthesis under microwave irradiation was developed. Double activation system was proved to allow for highly efficient coupling of Tn-Ser/Thr and bulky core 2-Ser/Thr derivatives. Versatility and robustness of the present strategy was demonstrated by constructing a Mucine-1 (MUC1) fragment and glycosylated fragments of tau protein. The success of this approach relies on the combination of microwave energy, a resin consisting totally of polyethylene glycol, a low excess of sugar amino acid and the "double activation" method.     

Effect of chiral diene ligands in rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric addition of arylboronic acids to α,β-unsaturated sulfonyl compounds

Asymmetric addition of arylboronic acids to α,β-unsaturated sulfonyl compounds proceeded in the presence of a rhodium catalyst coordinated with a chiral diene ligand to give high yields of the addition products with high enantioselectivity (96->99.5% ee). The diene ligand was proved to be essential for the formation of the addition products, while the use of a bisphosphine ligand mainly gave the cine-substitution product.     

High-pressure synthesis of BaVO3: A new cubic perovskite

A new cubic perovskite BaVO₃ was synthesized by high-pressure synthesis at 15 GPa, and 1350 °C. Contrary to our expectations that lattice expansion by Ba substitution for Sr would lead to non-centrosymmetric tetragonal distortion, BaVO₃ preserved its cubic crystal structure with a=3.94288(3) Å at room temperature and had Fermi-liquid characteristics as SrVO₃ down to the lowest temperature.     

Momentum dependence of spin polarization for beta emitting nuclei produced through charge exchange reaction at intermediate energy

Hyperfine interactions were studied in the intermetallic compound GdRh₂Si₂ by perturbed angular correlation (PAC) technique using ¹⁸¹Hf(¹⁸¹Ta) probe nuclei. The measurements were performed in the temperature range 15–285 K. The PAC spectra above the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature of the GdRh₂Si₂ compound (T _N ～ 106 K), were analyzed using a model that included only electric quadrupole interactions. The observed major fraction was assigned to the ¹⁸¹Hf(¹⁸¹Ta) probe substituting the Gd atoms. The PAC spectra below Néel temperature were analyzed using combined electric quadrupole and magnetic dipole interactions. The B_hf value at Gd, measured at 15 K was found to be 1.4(1) T which, is smaller, when compared with the values obtained in this compound using other nuclear probes, ¹⁵⁵Gd (B_hf ～ 30 T) and ¹⁴⁰Ce (B_hf ～ 26 T). The present result using ¹⁸¹Hf(¹⁸¹Ta) probe is quite interesting since it shows that the contribution to B_hf at Gd due the host is smaller than other components which contribute to the hyperfine field. The temperature dependence of B_hf shows an anomalous behavior.     

Light Harvesting by a Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica Chromophore

Light aqueduct: Periodic mesoporous organosilica exhibits strong light absorption due to densely packed organic chromophores within the pore walls. Light energy absorbed by 125 biphenyl groups in the pore walls is funneled into a single coumarin 1 molecule in the mesochannels with almost 100 % quantum efficiency, and results in significant enhancement of emission from the coumarin 1 dye.