Development of the anode-liquid cathode module (ALCM) for a high-throughput electrowinner

The employment of multiple electrode pairs is one of the ways to achieve a high-throughput electrowinner. In order to improve the U/TRU recovery rate and also to obtain economic advantages for a molten salt electrowinning process, which is a major step in pyroprocessing, the development of an electrode module having a compact structure is required. Here, we designed an anode-liquid cathode module (ALCM), where two graphite anodes are symmetrically arranged centering on a liquid Cd cathode with a mesh stirrer to prevent the growth of U dendrites, to be applied to the electrowinning process. As a preliminary study, basic electrochemical characterization of the designed electrode module was conducted and its capability for U recovery was evaluated in the ALCM-employed lab-scale electrowinner including LiCl–KCl-UCl₃ at 500 °C. Also, the morphology and component of the recovered U residue by distillation of the cathode product was examined by FE-SEM and EDS analyses.     

Chemiluminometric enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA)-on-a-chip biosensor based on cross-flow chromatography

A chemiluminometric biosensor system for point-of-care testing has been developed using an immuno-chromatographic assay combined with an enzyme (e.g., horseradish peroxidase) tracer that produces a light signal measurable on a simple detector. Cross-flow chromatography, a method previously investigated by our laboratory, was utilized in order to accomplish sequential antigen-antibody binding and signal generation. This enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was effectively carried out on a plastic chip that was redesigned to simplify the fabrication process. To enhance the sensitivity, biotin-streptavidin capture technology was employed in preparing an immuno-strip that was then incorporated onto the chip in order to generate the ELISA-on-a-chip (EOC) biosensor. Samples containing cardiac troponin I (cTnI) were analyzed using the EOC. A chemiluminescent signal proportional to the analyte concentration was produced by adding a luminogenic substrate to the tracer enzyme complexed with the analyte on the chip. The luminescent signal was detected in a dark chamber mounted with a cooled charge-coupled device and the signal was converted to optical density for quantification. This EOC biosensor system was capable of detecting cTnI present in serum at concentrations as low as 0.027 ng mL⁻¹, 30 times lower than those measured using the conventional rapid test kit with colloidal gold as the tracer. In addition, the final data was acquired within 30 s after the addition of the enzyme substrate, which was faster than the detection time required when using a colorimetric substrate with the same tracer enzyme.     

Preparation and evaluation of carbon coated alumina as a high surface area packing material for high performance liquid chromatography

The retention of polar compounds, the separation of structural isomers and thermal stability make carbonaceous materials very attractive stationary phases for liquid chromatography (LC). Carbon clad zirconia (C/ZrO₂), one of the most interesting, exhibits unparalleled chemical and thermal stability, but its characteristically low surface area (20–30 m²/g) limits broader application as a second dimension separation in two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2DLC) where high retentivity and therefore high stationary phase surface area are required. In this work, we used a high surface area commercial HPLC alumina (153 m²/g) as a support material to develop a carbon phase by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at elevated temperature using hexane vapor as the carbon source. The loading of carbon was varied by changing the CVD time and temperature, and the carbon coated alumina (C/Al₂O₃) was characterized both physically and chromatographically. The resulting carbon phases behaved as a reversed phase similar to C/ZrO₂. At all carbon loadings, C/Al₂O₃ closely matched the unique chromatographic selectivity of carbon phases, and as expected the retentivity was increased over C/ZrO₂. Excess carbon – the amount equivalent to 5 monolayers – was required to fully cover the oxide support in C/Al₂O₃, but this was less excess than needed with C/ZrO₂. Plate counts were 60,000–76,000/m for 5 μm particles. Spectroscopic studies (XPS and FT-IR) were also conducted; they showed that the two materials were chemically very similar.     

A simple and cost-effective molecular diagnostic system and DNA probes synthesized by light emitting diode photolithography

This work introduces a novel chip to be used in the future as a simple and cost-effective method for creating DNA arrays using light emission diode (LED) photolithography. The DNA chip platform contains 24 independent reaction sites, which allows for the testing of a corresponding amount of patients’ samples in hospital. An array of commercial UV LEDs and lens systems was combined with a microfluidic flow system to provide patterning of 24 individual reaction sites, each with 64 independent probes. Using the LED array instead of conventional laser exposure systems or micro-mirror systems significantly reduces the cost of equipment. The microfluidic system together with microfluidic flow cells drastically reduces the amount of used reagents, which is important due to the high cost of commercial reagents. The DNA synthesis efficiency was verified by fluorescence labeling and conventional hybridization.     

Temperature Sensitivity Control and Mechanical Stress Effect of Boron-Doped Long-Period Fiber Gratings

We will present in this work the quantitative analysis of the relationship between the doping concentrations of GeO 2 and B 2 O 3 in the core and cladding regions and the temperature sensitivity of the resonance wavelength shift in long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs). Based on this analysis, the temperature sensitivity was suppressed and enhanced to 0.002 nm/C and 0.28 nm/C, respectively. We will also discuss the effect of the residual mechanical stress on the optical and mechanical properties of LPFGs. In particular, we will present the measurement results of the dependence of the refractive index change and mechanical strength on the residual mechanical stress in the boron-doped fibers with depressed clad and matched clad.     

Addition reactions to chiral aziridine-2-carboxaldimine toward various enantiopure nitrogen-containing heterocycles

Chiral (2R,1′R)-(1′-phenylethyl)aziridine-2-carboxaldimine was utilized as a nitrogen-containing starting substrate for the preparation of various enantiopure nitrogen-containing heterocycles. The additions of nucleophiles including organomagnesium reagents, cyanotrimethylsilane and ketene acetal to the chiral (2R,1′R)-(1′-phenylethyl)aziridine-2-carboxaldimine proceeded in highly stereoselective manner via chelation controlled transition states. Subsequent treatment of adducts with triphosgene and NaH yielded 5-substituted-4-chloromethylimidazolidin-2-ones. This imine was also served as either aza-diene or aza-dienophile with olefin or diene to provide hetero-Diels-Alder adducts 2-aziridinylpiperidines or 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines.     

Photonic Crystal Fiber Attenuator

We propose a novel fiber attenuator based on photonic crystal fibers. The difference in the modal field diameters of a conventional single mode fiber and a photonic crystal fiber was used. A variable optical attenuator was also achieved by applying macro-bending on the PCF part of the proposed attenuator     

Concise syntheses of (+)-macrosphelides A and B

[reaction: see text]. Unified and highly convergent total syntheses of (+)-macrosphelides A and B are described. Key features of the syntheses include (1) concise synthesis of the optically active delta-hydroxy-gamma-keto alpha,beta-unsaturated acid fragment via the direct addition of a trans-vinylogous ester anion equivalent to the readily available Weinreb amide and (2) facile construction of the 16-membered macrolide core of the macrosphelide series via an intramolecular nitrile-oxide cycloaddition (INOC).