Sol-gel preparation and optical properties of SiO2-Ta2O5 glass

Tantalum-doped silica glass was fabricated by the sol-gel process in order to obtain a glass with a high refractive index for optical use. A crack-free, clear glass rod was successfully prepared from a low-density gel and used as the core material for fabricating optical fibers. Transmission loss in the fabricated fibers was high, in the range of 10³-10⁴ dB/km, which may be caused by coloration due to the multivalency of tantalum; however, the loss was reduced by nearly one order of magnitude by heat treatment at 800 °C, that is, to 75 dB/km at a wavelength of 0.8 μm.     

Bounds to average interelectronic angles in Hartree-Fock theory of atoms

The average interelectronic is the expectation value of the angle thetaij (0 < or = thetaij < or = pi) subtended by the position vectors ri and rj of a pair of electrons i and j. In the Hartree-Fock theory of atoms, we point out that the angle and its subshell-pair components nl,n'l' are bounded from above and below, where n and l are the principal and azimuthal quantum numbers. The upper bounds for nl,n'l' with 0 < or = l, l' < or = 3 are 9pi/16 (=101.25 degrees), 135pi/256 (approximately 94.922 degrees), 265pi/512 (approximately 93.164 degrees), and 129pi/256 (approximately 90.703 degrees) for sp, pd, df, and sf pairs, respectively, while they are pi/2 (=90 degrees ) for the other ll' pairs, independent of n and n'. A weighted sum of these subshell-pair bounds gives an upper bound to . The lower bounds are pi/2 in all the cases.     

Changes in enzymatic and membrane-adsorbing activities of sphingomyelinase from Bacillus cereus by modification with a polyethylene glycol derivative.

Sphingomyelinase (SMPLC) from Bacillus cereus was modified with a polyethylene glycol (PEG) derivative, methoxypolyethylene glycol-succinimidyl succinate (ss-PEG). The molecular weight of the ss-PEG-modified SMPLC was calculated to be approx. 150 kDa by gel-filtration whereas that of the native enzyme, was 25 kDa. By this modification, the enzyme increased its thermostability and retained its hydrolytic activity toward 2-(N-hexadecanoylamino)-4-nitrophenylphosphocholine (HNP) and sphingomyelin (SM) in the mixed micelles with the surfactants such as Triton X-100 and sodium deoxycholate (SDC). However, the activity toward liposomal SM was significantly decreased, and all the enzyme activities toward bovine erythrocytes, including membraneous SM-hydrolyzing and hemolytic activities as well as the enzyme adsorption onto the erythrocyte membranes, were completely lost.     

Pharmacokinetics of the nitroxide PCA measured by in vivo EPR

PCA (2,2,5,5-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl-3-carboxylic acid) is a relatively stable free radical which has been shown to be useful as a contrast agent for nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and as an imaging/spectroscopy agent for EPR. In an effort to determine the role of the liver and kidney in the pharmacokinetics of PCA, using low frequency in vivo EPR spectroscopy, we followed the clearance of PCA after intravenous injection in mice: under normal conditions, with a restricted blood supply to the kidneys, after exposure to an acute hepatotoxin CCl₄, and after exposure to lipopolysaccharide (endotoxin). The observed pharmacokinetics fit a two-component model. The fast component was dramatically affected when the renal vessels were restricted, while CCl₄ and endotoxin had a smaller but significant effect. The half times of the slow components were not significantly different (p>0.05) in the groups treated by renal blood flow occlusion, CCl₄, or LPS, compared with the control group. In conclusion, we find that the pharmacokinetics of PCA need to be completely described in term of a two component model: the fast component of the decay is mainly due to the elimination by the kidneys and also is affected by the time for the initial distribution; the slow component is related to the bioreduction of the nitroxide. In addition to the liver other tissues can also effectively metabolize PCA. The effect of oxygen on the rate of metabolism is modest at most.     

Asymmetric synthesis of aldehydes via alkylation of lithiated chiral α-phenethylimines

The lithiation and alkylation of three aldehydes in the form of their α-phenethylimines has been shown to yield chiral α-alkylaldehydes of 67–70% optical purity.     

Atomic one- and two-electron subshell moments in position and momentum spaces

For 357 subshells of the 53 neutral atoms He through Xe in their ground states, the two-electron intracule (relative motion) <u ^k > _nl and extracule (center-of-mass motion) <R ^k > _nl subshell moments in position space are examined as well as their counterparts <v ^k > _nl and <P ^k > _nl in momentum space, where n and l are the principal and azimuthal quantum numbers of the atomic subshell, respectively. It is clarified that between the intracule and extracule moments the “2 ^k -rule” is strictly valid, which means <u ^k > _nl = 2 ^k <R ^k > _nl and <v ^k > _nl = 2 ^k <P ^k > _nl for any nl subshell. Theoretical analysis also proves that for a particular case of k = +2, two relations <u ²> _nl = (N _nl −1)<r ²> _nl and <v ²> _nl = (N _nl −1)<p ²> _nl hold exactly, where N _nl (≥2) is the number of electrons in the subshell nl, and <r ^k > _nl and <p ^k > _nl are the familiar one-electron subshell moments in position and momentum spaces, respectively. The latter equality establishes a new and rigorous relation between the second electron-pair moments in momentum space and the total energy of an atom through the virial theorem. For k=+1, −1, and −2, the numerical Hartree-Fock results for the 357 subshells show that there are approximate but accurate linear relations between <u ^k > _nl and <r ^k > _nl and between <v ^k > _nl and <p ^k > _nl , in which the proportionality constant in each space depends on n,l, and k. Received: 27 April 1998 / Accepted: 29 May 1998 / Published online: 28 August 1998     

TYROSINE-SENSITIZED PHOTODIMERIZATION OF THYMINE IN AQUEOUS SOLUTION

Abstract. Photodimerization of thymine in aqueous solution in the presence of tyrosine was studied with monochromatic UV irradiation. The total dimer formation was sensitized in the presence of tyrosine. The action spectrum of sensitized total dimer formation has a peak near 280 nm corresponding to the absorption maximum of tyrosine. Triplet quenchers reduced the sensitization substantially. It seems probable that tyrosine-sensitized photodimerization of thymine occurred via triplet-triplet energy transfer from tyrosine to thymine.     

all-Z-Tetrabenzo

Crystal structures of the silver complexes derived from tetrabenzo[16]annulene with AgOTf and AgClO(4) are different, although these two complexes show similar (1)H NMR spectra reflecting a similar clathrate structure in solution. The silver complex of pentabenzo[20]annulene with AgClO(4) adopts a clathrate structure both in the solid state and in solution.