Microwave‐assisted polycondensation of 4‐octylaniline with dibromoarylene

The Pd‐catalyzed polycondensation of 4‐octylaniline with various dibromoarylenes was carried out under microwave heating. Microwave heating led to a decrease in the reaction time and an increase in the molecular weight of the polymers as compared to conventional heating. Microwave heating also allowed the catalyst loading to be reduced to 1 mol %, yielding polymerization results that were comparable to those under conventional heating and 5 mol % catalyst. Investigations regarding field‐effect transistors and organic photovoltaic cells using the obtained poly(arylamine) with azobenzene units revealed that increasing the molecular weight of the polymer led to improved device performance, including hole mobility and power conversion efficiency. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 536–542     

(e, 3e) test on e-e correlations in helium

The angular variations of the five-fold differential cross section obtained by using different wave functions of helium are compared with experimental data. It is found that in the coplanar geometry two kinematical arrangements, (i) equal energy sharing between the two ejected electrons with one of them ejected along the momentum transfer direction and the other along varying direction and (ii) the Bethe ridge condition with fixed sum of ejected electron energies and varying angle between them, are very sensitive to e-e correlations contained in the target wave function. This comparison has been used to show that open-shell class of wave functions better incorporate e-e correlations than the closed-shell class.     

Measuring Light Field of Light Source with High Directional Resolution Using Mirrored Ball and Pinhole Camera

This paper presents a method of measuring a light field of a light source with high directional resolution using a mirrored ball and a pinhole camera. The light field describes a spatial and directional distribution of radiances from the light source. The directional distribution is expanded by a reflection on the mirrored ball, and the radiances are measured by a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera with a pinhole lens. The light source is laterally moved by a robot arm to measure the directionally expanded light field, and each pixel on a CCD can obtain the radiances from the light source through the pinhole lens with high directional resolution. The light field is estimated from the pixel value and the position of each pixel using a ray tracing technique. The light field of a krypton lamp was experimentally measured by the proposed method, and the accuracy of the measurement was evaluated against the irradiances measured by a spectro-radiometer at sample points.     

Ferroelectric polarization switching in nylon-11

Cold-drawn Nylon-11 films, which were prepared by stretching the melt-quenched films to a draw ratio of 2.8: 1 at room temperature, were found to exhibit an electric displacement versus electric field hysteresis loop. The results confirmed that the Nylon-11 film exhibited ferroelectric behavior at or below room temperature. The coercive fields were 65, 98, 125, 160, and 215 MV/m at 20, 0, ?20, ?40, and ?60°C and the remanent polarization at ?20°C (where there was considerably less dc conduction) was 56 mC/m². Switching of the polarization was almost completed within 20 ms.     

The biosynthesis of broussonetines: origin of the carbon skeleton

Broussonetines are glycosidase-inhibitory alkaloids obtained from Broussonetia kazinoki. Feeding experiments using [1-13C]glucose and 13C-NMR spectroscopic studies showed that broussonetines are biosynthesized through routes similar to those of sphingosine and phytosphingosine.     

Crystal structure of poly(p-benzamide)

Redetermination of the crystal structure of poly(p-benzamide) was made by using newly collected intensity data. The molecular conformation is TCTC, where the internal rotation angles about the N? C bond of the amide group and about the virtual bond of N-phenyl-C are T (trans) and C (cis) conformations, respectively. Two molecular chains pass through a rectangular unit cell with dimension, a = 7.75 Å, b = 5.30 Å, c (fiber axis) = 12.87 Å, and the space group, P2₁2₁2₁-D. The reflection observed at the spacing of 010 may be attributed to the reflection due to another crystal polymorph or the diffuse scattering due to disorder. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Highly efficient recognition of native TpT by artificial ditopic hydrogen-bonding receptors possessing a conformationally well-defined linkage

Synthesis and binding affinity of rationally designed artificial ditopic nucleobase receptors are reported. The ditopic receptors were designed to recognize thymine-thymine dinucleotides by their two hydrogen-bonding moieties, which are connected to conformationally well-defined linkages such as ferrocene and biphenylene. The ditopic receptors exhibited a remarkably strong binding affinity for lipophilic TpT analogue in CDCl(3)/DMSO-d(6) (85:15, v/v). The binding affinity of the ditopic receptors for the dinucleotide was so high that even native TpT was extracted by them into CDCl(3). Detailed comparisons for the recognition abilities of the ditopic receptors were also conducted.     

Absorption enhancement of polypeptide drugs by cyclodextrins. I. Enhanced rectal absorption of insulin from hollow-type suppositories containing insulin and cyclodextrins in rabbits.

The absorption of insulin (from porcine pancreas) from the rectum of rabbits after the administration of hollow-type suppositories containing insulin and five kinds of cyclodextrins (CyDs) was investigated. Three types of suppositories were employed: suppository I containing insulin (approximately 26 IU/mg) and various amounts of each CyD in citric buffer solution at pH 3.0 or powder in its cavity, suppository II containing CyD without insulin, and suppository III containing insulin without CyD. Without CyD, the insulin and glucose levels in plasma were unchanged, whereas a significant increase in the plasma insulin concentration and a marked decrease in the glucose levels were found following simultaneous administration of insulin and CyDs by suppository I. The enhancing effect of CyD on rectal insulin absorption (absorption-enhancing effect) by chemically modified CyDs (heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-beta-CyD (DM-beta-CyD) and 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-CyD (HP-beta-CyD)) was higher than those by natural CyDs (alpha-, beta-, and gamma-CyD). The area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) and Cmax of insulin significantly decreased with the preadministration (administration of CyD 6, 24 and 48 h before rectal insulin administration) of DM-beta-CyD. The absorption-enhancing effect disappeared 24 h after preadministration. These results suggest that CyDs enhance insulin absorption from the rectum, and that attenuation of the membrane transport barrier function in the rectum recovers at a maximum of 24 h after administration of CyDs.     

Synthesis of trans-fused polycyclic ethers with angular methyl groups using sulfonyl-stabilized oxiranyl anions

An efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of trans-fused tetrahydropyrans with angular methyl groups adjacent to the ring oxygen. The procedure involves the coupling reaction of a sulfonyl-stabilized oxiranyl anion with an appropriate triflate followed by 6-endo cyclization, and is effective for the construction of 6/6- and 6/7/6-cyclic ether ring systems with sterically congested 1,3-diaxial methyl groups.