Enantioselective total synthesis of anti HIV-1 active (+)-calanolide A through a quinine-catalyzed asymmetric intramolecular oxo-Michael addition

Enantioselective total synthesis of anti HIV-1 active (+)-calanolide A was achieved by a quinine-catalyzed asymmetric intramolecular oxo-Michael addition as a key step.     

Mesoscopic nanomaterials generated by interfering femtosecond laser processing

Mesoscopic nanomaterials with a size ranging from a few nanometers to hundreds of nanometers were generated on a metallic thin film by interfering femtosecond (fs) laser processing. Because the nanomaterials seemed to demonstrate liquid behavior, we named their structure nano water drop. The structure is considerably similar to that of a real water drop observed with a high-speed camera. Using the phase shift between interfering beams, a duplicate structure was generated. This is a new surface modification technique, using a top-down approach.     

Axially chiral dicarboxylic acid catalyzed asymmetric semipinacol rearrangement of cyclic β-hydroxy-α-diazo esters

The development of axially chiral dicarboxylic acid catalyzed desymmetrizing asymmetric semipinacol rearrangement of symmetrically substituted six-membered cyclic β-hydroxy-α-diazo esters is reported as a means to give chiral cycloheptanones with good enantioselectivities.     

Landau levels in a novel two-dimensional electron system interacting with charged quantum dots

Landau levels have been theoretically investigated in a two-dimensional electron gas near a quantum dot (QD) layer. By a diagrammatical method, we have formulated the self-energy for the Landau level and deduced its relation to the AC conductivity σ_loc(ω) in the QD layer. As an example, we have examined the density of states in the case where σ_loc(ω) is described by Aω^S(S=0.8). It is found that the Landau levels are broadened due to the interaction with the localized electrons in the QDs.     

Spatial resolution improvement of scanning microscopy based on thermal lens spectroscopy with a total-internal-reflection arrangement.

In scanning microscopy by total internal reflection with thermal lens spectroscopy, its spatial resolution depends on the distance between the sample and a converging lens, which corresponds to the objective lens in an ordinary optical microscope. It was found that the resolution was best when the signal induced by the thermal lens effect was maximum. The distance was precisely adjusted by monitoring the signal intensity, and the resolution became twice better than that previously reported. Using a shorter focal-length lens, a resolution of 1.9 microm was attained.     

Rough set based rule induction from two decision tables

We study rule induction from two decision tables as a basis of rough set analysis of more than one decision tables. We regard the rule induction process as enumerating minimal conditions satisfied with positive examples but unsatisfied with negative examples and/or with negative decision rules. From this point of view, we show that seven kinds of rule induction are conceivable for a single decision table. We point out that the set of all decision rules from two decision tables can be split in two levels: a first level decision rule is positively supported by a decision table and does not have any conflict with the other decision table and a second level decision rule is positively supported by both decision tables. To each level, we propose rule induction methods based on decision matrices. Through the discussions, we demonstrate that many kinds of rule induction are conceivable.     

Discrete dihedral-angle modulation in porphyrin wheels adsorbed on Cu(1 0 0) observed by scanning tunneling microscopy

Conformations of two dodecameric porphyrin wheels adsorbed on a Cu(1 0 0) were probed by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Whereas a wheel consisting of six meso-meso linked diporphyrins was detected as uniform ring structure, several different images with three discrete molecular heights were detected for a wheel consisting of six meso-meso, β-β,β-β triply-linked planar diporphyrins. These results indicate that the former has a conformation similar to that in a free space, while the latter has various conformations with respect to orientation of planar diporphyrin units toward the metal surface. Several discrete STM images of the latter have been interpreted in terms of possible eight conformations, which vary as to relative orientation of neighboring diporphyrin units.     

Topological Structure of the Space of Weighted Composition Operators on H ∞

We study properties of the topological space of weighted composition operators on the space of bounded analytic functions on the open unit disk in the uniform operator topology. Moreover, we characterize the compactness of differences of two weighted composition operators.     

Optically induced mechanical interaction between semiconductor quantum dots under an electronic resonance condition

Assuming an electronic resonance condition, we study the shape-dependence of the radiation force (RF) on a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) floating in medium and the optically induced mechanical interaction (OIMI) between two QDs with Maxwell stress tensor (MST) method, where the response fields are calculated by the improved discrete dipole approximation (DDA). Main results are as follows: (1) Properties of the RF on an isolated QD drastically change due to its shape and polarization of an incident light, which can be used for shape-selective manipulation. (2) Anomalous OIMI between two QDs arises depending on the spatial structures of internal fields, which results from the interaction between polarizations in respective QDs when they are near each other.