Formation of Supramolecular Nanostructures through in Situ Self-Assembly and Post-Assembly Modification of a Biocatalytically Constructed Dipeptide Hydrazide**

Aqueous self-assembly of short peptides has attracted growing attention for the construction of supramolecular materials for various bioapplications. Herein, we describe how the thermolysin-assisted biocatalytic construction of a dipeptide hydrazide from an N-protected amino acid and an amino acid hydrazide leads to the formation of thermally stable supramolecular hydrogels. In addition, we demonstrate the post-assembly modification of the supramolecular architectures constructed in situ tethering hydrazide groups as a chemical handle by means of fluorescence imaging.     

Rugged distal tips for CO2 laser medicine

Low-loss and rugged distal tips for CO₂ laser have been proposed and fabricated based on a commercially available stainless steel (St) pipe. A method of smoothening the inner surface of the St pipe with a rough inner surface is put forward. Fabrication parameters, transmission properties, and mechanical strength of the cyclic olefin polymer-coated silver hollow St distal tip are experimentally discussed.     

A compact optical heterodyne interferometer by optical integration and its application

A compact high-resolution optical heterodyne interferometer combining a two-frequency light module and a minute optical system is described. The light module, which generates two independent frequencies of light, is fabricated by proton exchange method on LiNbO₃ substrate. We report an experiment evaluating measurement accuracy using a micro-displacement measurement system which incorporates this interferometer. Results of the experiment with a standard thickness sample show high thermal stability with maximum measurement error of 1.8 nm at a temperature from 19°C to 33°C. The system was used to measure the hysteresis of a piezoelectric element for displacements of several nm, thereby making it possible to analyze the system quantitatively in practice.     

Improved coating method for uniform polymer layer in infrared hollow fiber

An improved coating method was proposed in order to form a uniform polymer layer in the fabrication of cyclic olefin polymer-coated silver (COP/Ag) hollow fiber. A COP solution was flowed in a closed loop, in which the silver-coated tube was used as a part of the loop. Owing to the constant flowing speed of the COP solution and the airtight flowing environment, a COP layer was uniformly formed. The hollow fibers attain high performance and deliver multi-wavelength laser light from the infrared to the visible simultaneously. The method was successfully applied to the fabrication of practical hollow fibers with 2 m length for the near and mid-infrared lasers.     

Practical asymmetric synthesis of (S)-MA20565, a wide-spectrum agricultural fungicide

A practical asymmetric synthesis of a wide-spectrum agricultural fungicide, (S)-MA20565 (1), is described. The convergent synthesis was achieved starting from commercially available 3-(trifluoromethyl)aniline (7) in 44% overall yield through five steps and 2-bromobenzaldehyde (9) in 48% overall yield through four steps, respectively. (S)-O-[1-(3-Trifluoromethylphenyl)ethyl]hydroxylamine (2), a key intermediate of 1, was prepared via ruthenium(II)-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of 1-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)ethanone (6) followed by chlorination using methanesulfonyl chloride and oxyamination using potassium acetohydroxamate with high level of stereocontrol.     

Stark effects on the phosphorescence spectra of p-benzoquinone

Stark effects on the phosphorescence spectra of p-benzoquinone have been studied in naphthalene crystals at temperatures between 1.7 and 30 K. The experimental data establish that the band splitting of 24 cm^?1 arises from a double minimum potential in the T₁ state.     

Sorption of water vapor by poly(vinyl acetate)

Summary The sorption property of water vapor by poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) of relatively low glass transition temperature (T _g) was studied at temperatures nearT _g.Tc_g of humidity-controlled samples of various moisture contents was measured and its variation with the moisture content was determined.T _g of the dry sample was estimated by dilatometry and DSC methods, and to confirm the value, the temperature dependence of mutual diffusion coefficient of the system of water vapor + PVAc was determined. A difference between the sorption mechanisms of water vapor by PVAc at 20 and 30 °C was observed: two sorption mechanisms are involved at 30 °C, while three mechanisms at 20 °C are involved which include the above two and another intermediate one. In earlier stage of sorption, at both 20 and 30 °C, water molecules sorbed by PVAc showed a tendency towards aggregation, while a mixing effect was found at higher stage of the sorption.

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Zusammenfassung In der Arbeit werden Wasserdampfsorptionseigenschaften von Polyvinylacetat mit relativ niedriger Glastemperatur (T _g) in der Nähe vonT _g untersucht. Es wurden Plastizitätseinflüsse und Veränderungen vonT _g mit dem Wassergehalt studiert. Es wurde gefunden, daß bei 30 °C ein 2-Stufen-Sorptionsmechanismus, bei 20 °C ein 3-Stufen-Mechanismus existiert.

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With 7 figures     

Multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism analysis of 36 mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms for haplogrouping of East Asian populations

We present a reliable, rapid, and economical multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism (APLP) method for analyzing the haplogroup-diagnostic mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs) in East Asian populations. By examining only 36 haplogroup-specific mtSNPs in the coding region by using four 9-multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequent electrophoresis, we could safely assign 1815 individuals from 8 populations of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Germans to 45 relevant haplogroups. This multiplex APLP analysis of coding-region mtSNPs for haplogrouping is especially useful not only for molecular phylogenetic studies but also for large-scale association studies due to its rapid and economical nature. This is the first panel of mtSNPs in the coding region to be used for haplogrouping of East Asian populations.     

Development of novel chiral urea catalysts for the hetero-Michael reaction

Chiral urea compounds 10a-g were synthesized as catalysts for conjugate addition of pyrrolidine (2) to gamma-crotonolactone (3). In the presence of a catalytic amount of the chiral ureas, this hetero-Michael reaction was greatly accelerated. Asymmetric induction was observed with the catalysts 10e, 10f, and 10g.