Geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase from Scoparia dulcis and Croton sublyratus. Plastid localization and conversion to a farnesyl diphosphate synthase by mutagenesis

cDNAs encoding geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (GGPPS) of two diterpene-producing plants, Scoparia dulcis and Croton sublyratus, have been isolated using the homology-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Both clones contained highly conserved aspartate-rich motifs (DDXX(XX)D) and their N-terminal residues exhibited the characteristics of chloroplast targeting sequence. When expressed in Escherichia coli, both the full-length and truncated proteins in which the putative targeting sequence was deleted catalyzed the condensation of farnesyl diphosphate and isopentenyl diphosphate to produce geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP). The structural factors determining the product length in plant GGPPSs were investigated by constructing S. dulcis GGPPS mutants on the basis of sequence comparison with the first aspartate-rich motif (FARM) of plant farnesyl diphosphate synthase. The result indicated that in plant GGPPSs small amino acids, Met and Ser, at the fourth and fifth positions before FARM and Pro and Cys insertion in FARM play essential roles in determination of product length. Further, when a chimeric gene comprised of the putative transit peptide of the S. dulcis GGPPS gene and a green fluorescent protein was introduced into Arabidopsis leaves by particle gun bombardment, the chimeric protein was localized in chloroplasts, indicating that the cloned S. dulcis GGPPS is a chloroplast protein.     

Certain Conditions on the Ricci Tensor of Real Hypersurfaces in Quaternionic Projective Spaces

The purpose of this paper is to classify real hypersurfaces of quaternionic projective spaces whose Ricci tensor satisfy a pair of conditions on the maximal quaternionic distribution .     

Dynamic instability of strongly confined thin polymer films in spinodal dewetting

We present a general criterion for determining the dynamic instability of a thin polymer film that is strongly confined to a substrate. When such a polymer film is heated above its glass transition temperature, it dewets from the substrate by a spinodal dewetting scenario, in which the onset of the instability is governed by dispersion force and residual thermal stress. It turns out that the thermal stress plays an important role when there is a special interaction between a polymer and a substrate.     

Dimer to monomer phase transition in alkali-metal fullerides: magnetic susceptibility changes

Ab initio calculations have been employed to investigate the peculiar change in magnetic property (from diamagnetic to paramagnetic) of the dianionic C60-dimer phase in a rapidly cooled AC60 samples ( A: alkali metal). We first note that the triplet state of (C60)-22 which was never considered previously is nearly degenerate with the singlet state, and the transition barrier between the two states is reasonably small. This explains the susceptibility increase with an increase in temperature and the magnetic phase transition in the process of the dimer to monomer phase transition.     

Photoluminescence and persistent photoconductivity of Al<Subscript>x</Subscript>Ga<Subscript>1-x</Subscript>N/GaN heterostructures

We have investigated the optical properties of Al_xGa_1-xN/GaN heterostructures (x=0.08, 0.15, 0.33) grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition on sapphire using photoluminescence (PL) and persistent photoconductivity (PPC) measurements. For the Al_xGa_1-xN/GaN heterostructures (HS) containing high Al composition, we observed an anomalous temperature-dependent photoluminescence and persistent photoconductivity effects. These results show a strong dependence of the physical properties of Al_xGa_1-xN/GaN HS on the Al content and layer thickness. The anomalous temperature-dependent PL is usually attributed to the presence of carrier localization states. These phenomena are explained based on the alloy compositional fluctuations in the Al_xGa_1-xN/GaN HS. From the PPC measurements, the photocurrent (PC) quenching was observed for Al_xGa_1-xN/GaN HS and it is explained by the metastable states formed in the underlying GaN layer. Also, the mechanisms behind the PC quenching and PPC phenomena are explained in detail. PACS 72.20.Jv; 72.40.+w; 78.55.Cr     

Syntheses and characterization of carbazole based new low‐band gap copolymers containing highly soluble benzimidazole derivatives for solar cell application

Newly designed 2H‐benzimidazole derivatives which have solubility groups at 2‐position have been synthesized and incorporated into two highly soluble carbazole based alternating copolymers, poly[2,7‐(9‐(1′‐octylnonyl)‐9H‐carbazole)‐alt‐5,5‐(4′,7′‐di(thien‐2‐yl)‐2H‐benzimidazole‐2′‐spirocyclohexane)] (PCDTCHBI) and poly[2,7‐(9‐(1′‐octylnonyl)‐9H‐carbazole)‐alt‐5,5‐(4′,7′‐di(thien‐2‐yl)‐2H‐benzimidazole‐2′‐spiro‐4′′‐((2′′′‐ethylhexyl)oxy)‐cyclohexane)] (PCDTEHOCHBI) for photovoltaic application. These alternating copolymers show low‐band gap properties caused by internal charge transfer from an electron‐rich unit to an electron‐deficient moiety. HOMO and LUMO levels are –5.53 and –3.86 eV for PCDTCHBI, and –5.49 and –3.84 eV for PCDTEHOCHBI, respectively. Optical band gaps of PCDTCHBI and PCDTEHOCHBI are 1.67 and 1.65 eV, respectively. The new carbazole based the 2H‐benzimidazole polymers show 0.11–0.13 eV lower values of band gaps as compared to that of carbazole based benzothiadiazole polymer, poly[N‐9′‐heptadecanyl‐2,7‐carbazole‐alt‐5,5‐(4′,7′‐di‐2‐thienyl‐2′,1′,3′‐benzothiadiazole)] (PCDTBT), while keeping nearly the same deep HOMO levels. The power conversion efficiencies of PCDTCHBI and PCDTEHOCHBI blended with [6,6]phenyl‐C₇₁‐butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) are 1.03 and 1.15%, respectively. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Fluorescent sensing system for palladium(II) based on the Heck reaction

In this paper, we report a fluorescent sensing system based on the palladium-catalyzed Heck reaction between N-methyl vinylpyridinium and 4-bromo-N,N′-dimethylaniline. Generation of a new fluorophore as a product enhances fluorescence and permits selective detection of palladium(II) among other metal species.     

Highly monodisperse crosslinked polymethylmethacrylate microparticles by dispersion polymerization

Highly monodisperse polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microparticles crosslinked with carboxylic group-containing urethane acrylates (CUA) were produced by simple dispersion polymerization in methanol solution. In contrast to conventional crosslinkers, the CUA employed as a crosslinker was excellent for maintaining the monodispersity of PMMA microparticles even at moderate crosslinker concentrations (to about 5 wt%). It was believed that the CUA helped form the monomer-swellable surface of primary particles, because of the structurally long tetramethylene oxide groups in the molecule. Carboxylic groups in the molecular backbone resulted in larger primary particles by increasing the solubility of the monomer mixture in the medium. Owing to these larger primary particles, the crosslinked PMMA particles showed lower polymerization rates than the linear ones during particle growth. However, at high CUA concentrations (about 10 wt%), bimodal distributions were observed. This was attributed to the high crosslinking density of the primary particle surfaces. Therefore, monomer diffusion toward the polymer phase was restricted, resulting in more favorable secondary nucleation in the medium. Received: 12 May 1998 Accepted: 19 August 1998     

Electrorheological properties of carbon nanotube/polyelectrolyte self‐assembled polystyrene particles by layer‐by‐layer assembly

Sulfonated polystyrene (PS) particles were prepared by the sulfonation of PS microspheres with H₂SO₄. Then, composite particles were synthesized by layer‐by‐layer (LbL) self‐assembly with funtionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (fMCNTs) and polyelectrolytes on sulfonated PS particles. The amount of fMCNTs on PS particles was adjusted by controlling the number of fMCNT layers by LbL self‐assembly. Composite particles were characterized by ζ‐potential analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and thermal analysis. The electrorheological (ER) properties of composite particles in insulating oil was investigated with varying the number of fMCNT layers under controlled electric fields. It was observed that the number of fMCNT layers was a critical factor to determine the ER properties of composite particles. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 1058–1065, 2008