Josephson current through a half metal at low temperatures

We study the Josephson effect in the superconductor/diffusive half metal/superconductor junctions by using the recursive Green function method. In the presence of spin-flip scatterings at the interface, odd-frequency spin-triplet Cooper pairs penetrate deeply into a half metal and carry Josephson current. The critical Josephson current increases with decreasing temperatures near the transition temperature. At low temperatures, however, the critical current decreases with decreasing temperatures. Such reentrant behavior is unusual in the case of s-wave superconductor junctions. The penetration of odd-frequency pairs modifies quasiparticle density of states in a half metal near the Fermi energy, which is responsible for the nonmonotonic temperature dependence of critical Josephson current.     

Thermo- and pH-responsive gels for application in colon delivery systems

Swelling-controlled drug delivery copolymer gels were synthesized by introducing thermo- and pH-responsive methacryloyl-glycine (MA-Gly) of pH-responsive methacrylic acid (MA-Ac) into thermo-responsive acryloyl- -proline ethyl ester (A-ProOEt). The threshold of swelling for copolymer gels consisting of A-ProOEt/MA-Gly and A-ProOEt/MA-Ac with a composition of 40/60 mol% was found to be pH 3.0 and pH 5.5, respectively, in buffer solutions at 37°C. The diffusion characteristics of 2-(3-benzoylphenyl)propionic acid (ketoprofen) from such copolymer gels were evaluated in buffer solutions at pHs more than 5.5, and it was found that A-ProOEt/MA-Gly gel possessed a Case II transport, while the A-ProOEt/MA-Ac gel exhibited a non-Fickian (or anomalous) diffusion behavior under the same conditions.     

Solid‐state 13C NMR study on thermal dehydration process of poly(methacrylic acid)(PMAA)

Thermal dehydration process of PMAA was investigated by solid‐state ¹³C NMR. For heat‐treated PMAA at 150°C, at which the dehydration goes very slowly, we observed three ¹³C peaks at 172, 178, and 187 ppm in the carboxyl group region. The peak at 172 ppm is due to the intramolecular cyclic anhydrides by comparing the reported value of ¹³C chemical shift. The peaks at 178 and 187 ppm were assigned to regularly aligned free carboxylic acids and intermolecular acid dimers, respectively, from the 2D‐exchange ¹³C NMR spectra, ¹³C chemical shift values and IR spectra. We concluded that by heat‐treatment the rearrangement of intermolecular hydrogen bonding of the carboxylic acids in PMAA occurs firstly to form the regularly aligned acid dimers, and the dimers dissociated to be the regularly aligned free carboxylic acids at high temperatures. The adjacent free carboxyl acids dehydrate with each other, resulting in the formation of intramolecular anhydrides. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 2007–2012, 1999     

cyclo(‐Cha–Oxz–d‐Val–Thz–Ile–Oxz–d‐Val–Thz‐) N,N‐di­methyl­acetamide dihydrate: a square form of cyclo­hexyl­alanine‐incorporated ascidiacycl­amide having the strongest cytotoxicity

The title compound, 1‐cyclo­hexyl­methyl‐1‐de(1‐methyl­propyl)­asci­dia­cycl­amide N,N‐di­methyl­acet­amide di­hy­drate, C₃₉H₅₆N₈O₆S₂·C₄H₉NO·2H₂O, a cyclo­hexyl­alanine‐incorporated ascidiacycl­amide analogue ([Cha]ASC), shows a square form similar to natural ASC. On the other hand, CD (circular dichroism) spectra showed [Cha]ASC to have a folded structure in solution, making it the second known analogue to show a discrepancy between its crystal and solution structures. Moreover, the cytotoxicity of [Cha]ASC (ED₅₀ = 5.6 µg ml⁻¹) was approximately two times stronger than that of natural ASC or a related phenyl­alanine‐incorporated analogue, viz. cyclo(‐Phe–Oxz–d ‐Val–Thz–Ile–Oxz–d ‐Val–Thz‐) ([Phe]ASC), and was confirmed to be associated with the square form. However, [Phe]ASC was previously shown to be folded in the crystal structure, which suggests that the difference between the aromatic and aliphatic rings affects the molecular folding of the ASC mol­ecule.     

cis,cis‐Ceratospong­amide N,N‐di­methyl­acet­amide hemisolvate in the presence of twinning

Ceratospong­amide (CS) is a potent inhibitor of secreted phospho­lipase A₂, and cis,cis and trans,trans isomers, related with respect to the two proline amide bonds, are known. Crystals of cis,cis‐CS were grown from N,N‐di­methyl­acet­amide solution, giving the title compound, the cyclic ester of isoleucyl­oxazolinyl­phenyl­alanyl­prolyl­thia­zolyl­phenyl­alanyl­pro­line [cyclo(‐Ile–Oxz–Phe–Pro–Thz–Phe–Pro‐)] N,N‐di­methyl­acet­amide hemisolvate, C₄₁H₄₉N₇O₆S·0.5C₄H₉NO. The structure is the third example of cis,cis‐CS to be investigated and comprises twinned crystals, in which the a and b axes are interchanged. The ratio of co‐existing twin crystals is approximately 50%. The peptide has a `saddle‐like' structure and is very similar to previously reported structures of cis,cis‐CS, which implies that the structure of cis,cis‐CS is very stable in spite of differences in crystallization conditions.