Thermodynamic investigations of ternary o-toluidine + tetrahydropyran + N,N-dimethylformamide mixture and its binaries at 298.15, 303.15 and 308.15 K

The densities ρ, speed of sound u, data of o-toluidine (i) + tetrahydropyran (j) + N,N-dimethylformamide (k) and its {tetrahydropyran (j) + N,N-dimethylformamide (k); o-toluidine (i) + N,N-dimethylformamide (k)} binaries have been measured as a function of composition at 298.15, 303.15 and 308.15 K. The excess molar enthalpies, H^E data of same set of binary mixtures have also been measured over entire composition at 308.15 K. The densities and speeds of sound data of binary and ternary mixtures have been utilized to determine their excess molar volumes, V^E and excess isentropic compressibilities, κ_S^E. The observed thermodynamic properties of binary and ternary mixtures have been analyzed in terms of Graph theory. It has been observed that Graph theory correctly predicts the sign as well as magnitude of thermodynamic properties.     

Half-lives of ground and isomeric states in Cd and the astrophysical origin of Ru

First experimental evidence for a high-spin isomer (25/²⁺$25/2^{+}$) in ⁹⁷Cd, a waiting point in the astrophysical rapid proton capture process, is presented. The data were obtained in β-decay studies at NSCL using the new RF Fragment Separator system and detecting β-delayed protons and β-delayed γ rays. Decays from ground and isomeric states were disentangled, and proton emission branches were determined for the first time. We find half-lives of 1.10(8) s and 3.8(2) s, and β-delayed proton emission branches of 12(2)% and 25(4)% were deduced for the ground and isomeric states, respectively. With these results, the nuclear data needed to determine an rp-process contribution to the unknown origin of solar ⁹⁶Ru are in place. When the new data are included in astrophysical rp-process calculations, one finds that an rp-process origin of ⁹⁶Ru is unlikely.     

Confirmation of sable QTL that modifies the effects of the Ay allele on yellow coat color on mouse chromosome 1

F₁-A^y mice between RR (aabbCC) and C57BL/6J-A^y (A^yaBBCC) have a much darker yellow coat color than do C57BL/6J-A^y. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis was carried out to identify genes responsible for the darker modification of the yellow coat color (this has been traditionally termed “sable”). A significant sable QTL was identified on chromosome 1 (Dmyaq4, LOD score 15.5 for lightness, and 13.4 for color difference), in a chromosomal position similar to that of Dmyaq2, a sable QTL previously identified in C3H/HeJ. Another significant sable QTL was identified on chromosome 4 (Dmyaq5, LOD score 5.6 for lightness, and 4.3 for color difference) near the tyrosinase-related protein 1 (Tyrp1) locus. The effect of Dmyaq5 was significant only in the presence of the RR allele at Dmyaq4, suggesting that the Dmyaq4 (as well as Dmyaq2) is a novel coat color gene that may act up-stream of Tyrp1 signaling to increase eumelanin production.     

Theoretical study of optical and electronic properties of p-terphenyls containing cyano substituents as promising light-emitting materials

Recently, p-terphenyls containing alkoxylated backbones with or without CN groups on either the central phenyl ring or peripheral rings were synthesized and their photo-luminescent properties were studied. Herein, semi-empirical AM1 and density functional theory (DFT) B3LYP calculations with the 6-31G* basis set have been performed to optimize structure for the ground state and the semi-empirical ZINDO calculations have been used to determine the maximum absorption (λ_abs^max) and emission wavelengths (λ_emi) for 19 p-terphenyls. The steric effect is assigned to be responsible for the calculated λ_abs^max and λ_emi shifts and the CN group at the central phenyl with ortho-substitution and at peripheral phenyl rings with para-substitution can also significantly influence these spectra. According to experimental results, the p-terphenyls with CN groups may have a lower energy of LUMO, and thus, we investigated the influence of the substitution position and the number of CN groups on the p-terphenyl moiety. The calculated optical and electronic properties provide important information on the behavior of the corresponding Organic light-emitting diode device (OLED). The suggested theoretical calculation protocol can be employed to predict electro-luminescent characteristics of other materials, and further, to design novel materials for OLED.     

Recent development of two chitinase inhibitors,Argifin and Argadin,produced by soil microorganisms

Chitin, the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature, occurs in fungi, some algae and many invertebrates, including insects. Thus, chitin synthesis and degradation could represent specific targets for fungicides and insecticides. Chitinases hydrolyze chitin into oligomers of N-acetyl-d-glucosamine at key points in the life cycles of organisms, consequently, chitinase inhibitors have become subject of increasing interest. This review covers the development of two chitinase inhibitors of natural origin, Argifin and Argadin, isolated from the cultured broth of microorganisms in our laboratory. In particular, the practical total synthesis of these natural products, the synthesis of lead compounds via computer-aided rational molecular design, and discovery methods that generate only highly-active compounds using a kinetic target(chitinase)-guided synthesis approach (termed in situ click chemistry) are described.     

Double-beta decay Q values of Cd and Te

The Q values of the ¹¹⁶Cd and ¹³⁰Te double-beta decaying nuclei were determined by using a Penning trap mass spectrometer. The new atomic mass difference between ¹¹⁶Cd and ¹¹⁶Sn of 2813.50(13) keV differs by 4.5 keV and is 30 times more precise than the previous value of 2809(4) keV. The new value for ¹³⁰Te, 2526.97(23) keV is close to the Canadian Penning trap value of 2527.01 ± 0.32 keV (Scielzo et al., 2009) [1], but differs from the Florida State University trap value of 2527.518 ± 0.013 keV (Redshaw et al., 2009) [2] by 0.55 keV (2σ). These values are sufficiently precise for ongoing neutrinoless double-beta decay searches in ¹¹⁶Cd and ¹³⁰Te. Hence, our Q values were used to compute accurate phase-space integrals for these double-beta decay nuclei. In addition, experimental two-neutrino double-beta decay nuclear matrix elements were determined and compared with the theoretical values. The neutrinoless double-beta decay half-lives for these nuclei were estimated using our precise phase-space integrals and considering the range of the best available matrix elements values.     

Vibronic and cation spectroscopy of m-chloroaniline

We applied the resonant two-photon ionization and mass-analyzed threshold ionization spectroscopic techniques to record the vibronic and cation spectra of m-chloroaniline. The band origin of the first electronic transition was found to be 33 658 ± 2 cm⁻¹, whereas the adiabatic ionization energy was determined to be 63 958 ± 5 cm⁻¹. Within our experimental detection limit, these measured values are the same for both of the ³⁵Cl and ³⁷Cl isotopomers. The observed active modes of this molecule in the electronically excited S₁ and cationic ground D₀ states mainly involve the in-plane ring deformation and substituent-sensitive bending vibrations.     

Twin Xenopus laevis embryos appearing from flattened eggs

Remarkable progress has recently been made in molecular biology of double axis formation in Xenopus laevis. Leaving aside, for the time being, the problem of the gene expressions regulating Xenopus laevis development, here I show that pulse treatment could induce formation of a secondary axis in a fertilized Xenopus laevis egg. At 3 min after insemination, metal oxides were added to Xenopus fertilized eggs, and then twin embryos appeared. Zirconium oxide (ZrO₂) was the most effective metal oxide for producing twin embryos. ZrO₂ was added to the fertilized eggs, and 30 sec later, the eggs were dejellied with cysteine solution and washed within 7 min after insemination. The fertilized eggs began flattening at around 15 min after insemination. When the degree of flattening (the vertical length of the egg divided by the horizontal length) of the eggs at the 16- and 32-cell stages became less than 0.4 degrees, production of twin embryos occurred. Many flattened eggs at less than 0.4 degrees formed twin embryos. The third cleavage of eggs treated with metal oxides was meridional, while the normal third cleavage was horizontal.     

Discovery of radioactive silver (110mAg) in spiders and other fauna in the terrestrial environment after the meltdown of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant

Six months after the explosion of TEPCO’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, radioactive silver (^110mAg), was detected in concentrations of 3754 Bq/kg in Nephila clavata (the orb-web spider; Joro-gumo in Japanese) collected at Nimaibashi, Iitate village in Fukushima Prefecture, whereas ^110mAg in the soil was 43.1 Bq/kg. A survey of 35 faunal species in the terrestrial environment during the 3.5 years after the accident showed that most of Anthropoda had two orders higher ^110mAg in their tissues than soils, although silver is not an essential element for their life. However, tracing of the activity of ^110mAg detected in spider Atypus karschi collected regularly at a fixed location showed that it declined much faster than the physical half-life. These results suggest that ^110mAg was at once biologically concentrated by faunal species, especially Arthropoda, through food chain. The factors affecting the subsequent rapid decline of ^110mAg concentration in faunal species are discussed.     

Nature of magnetic impurity induced superparamagnetism and anomalous Hall effect in β-FeSi2 single crystals

The magnetic properties of β-FeSi₂ single crystals were investigated using magnetization and anomalous Hall effect measurements. These measurements clearly show the appearance of superparamagnetism, the origin of which is attributed to defect-induced magnetic aggregates. Unlike previous reports, based on our combined analysis using magnetization and the anomalous Hall effect, we found that two kinds of aggregates, which are magnetically distinct, exist in our samples. Among the two types found, one gives an anomalous Hall term, which follows a side-jump mechanism while the other is a completely new kind, suggesting that magnetic properties of β-FeSi₂ are very unconventional. The sizes of the aggregates were estimated from our experimental data.     

High-resolution FTIR measurement of the ν4 band of methylene fluoride-d2

A high-resolution (0.002 cm⁻¹) infrared absorption spectrum of methylene fluoride-d₂ (CD₂F₂) of the lowest fundamental mode ν₄ in the region from 460 to 610 cm⁻¹ has been measured on a Bruker IFS 120-HR Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. More than 3500 transitions have been assigned in this B-type band centered at 521.9 cm⁻¹. The data have been combined with upper state pure rotational measurements in a weighted least-squares fit to obtain molecular constants for the upper state resulting in an overall standard deviation of 0.00018 cm⁻¹. Accurate value for the band origin (521.9578036 cm⁻¹) has been obtained and inclusion of transitions with very high J (?60) and K_a (?34) values has resulted in improved precision for sextic centrifugal distortion constants, in particular D_K, H_KJ, and H_K.     

Molecular characterization of O-methyltransferases involved in isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis in Coptis japonica

O-Methyltransferases, which catalyze the production of small molecules in plants, play a crucial role in determining biosynthetic pathways in secondary metabolism because of their strict substrate specificity. Using three O-methyltransferase (OMT) cDNAs that are involved in berberine biosynthesis, we investigated the structure that was essential for this substrate specificity and the possibility of creating a chimeric enzyme with novel substrate specificity. Since each OMT has a relatively well-conserved C-terminal putative S-adenosyl-L-methionine-binding domain, we first exchanged the N-terminal halves of different OMTs. Among the 6 combinations that we tested for creating chimeric OMTs, 5 constructs produced detectable amounts of recombinant proteins, and only one of these with an N-terminal half of 6-OMT and a C-terminal half of 4′-OMT (64′-OMT) showed methylation activity with isoquinoline alkaloids as a substrate. Further enzymological analysis of 64′-OMT reaction product indicated that 64′-OMT retained the regio-specificity of 6-OMT. Further examination of the N-terminal region of 64′-OMT showed that about 90 amino acid residues in the N-terminal half were critical for reaction specificity. The creation of OMTs with novel reactivity is discussed.     

A new paradigm of bacteria-gut interplay brought through the study of Shigella

Bacteria-gut epithelial interplay and the mucosal immune response are the most critical issues in determining the fate of bacterial infection and the severity of diseases. Shigella species (abbreviated here as Shigella), the causative agent of bacillary dysentery (shigellosis), are highly adapted human pathogens that are capable of invading and colonizing the intestinal epithelium, which results in severe inflammatory colitis. Shigella secrete a large and diverse number (more then 50) of effectors via the type III secretion system (TTSS) during infection, some of which are delivered into the surrounding bacterial space and some others into the host cell cytoplasm and nucleus. The delivered effectors mimic and usurp the host cellular functions, and modulate host cell signaling and immune response, thus playing pivotal roles in promoting bacterial infection and circumventing host defense systems. This article overviews the pathogenic characteristics of Shigella, and highlights current topics related to the bacterial infectious stratagem executed by the TTSS-secreted effectors. Though bacterial stratagems and the molecular mechanisms of infection vary greatly among pathogens, the current studies of Shigella provide a paradigm shift in bacterial pathogenesis.     

Resonant two-photon ionization and mass-analyzed threshold ionization spectroscopy of the selected rotamers of m-methoxyaniline and o-methoxyaniline

We report the resonant two-photon ionization and mass-analyzed threshold ionization (MATI) spectra of m-methoxyaniline and o-methoxyaniline. The vibronic features of m-methoxyaniline are built on 34308 ± 2 and 34495 ± 2 cm⁻¹ corresponding to the origins of the S₁ ← S₀ electronic transition (E₁’s) of the cis and trans rotamers. Analysis of the MATI spectra gives the adiabatic ionization energies (IEs) of 59983 ± 5 and 60879 ± 5 cm⁻¹ for these two species. o-Methoxyaniline is found to have only one stable structure whose E₁ and IE are 33875 ± 2 and 58678 ± 5 cm⁻¹, respectively. Most of the active vibrations of m- and o-methoxyaniline in the electronically excited S₁ and cationic ground D₀ states result from the in-plane ring vibrations. Comparing these data with those of p-methoxyaniline allows us to learn about the vicinal substitution effects resulting from the relative locations of the NH₂ and OCH₃ substituents.     

Geometries, stabilities and electronic properties of small Nb-doped gallium clusters: A density functional theory study

The host Ga_n+1 and doped Ga_nNb (n=1-9) clusters with several spin configurations have been systematically investigated by a relativistic density functional theory (DFT) with the generalized gradient approximation. The optimized equilibrium geometries tend to prefer the close-packed configurations for small Nb-doped gallium clusters up to n=9. The average binding energies per atom (E_b/atom), second-order differences of total energies (Δ₂E), fragmentation energies (E_f) and HOMO-LUMO gaps of Ga_n+1 and Ga_nNb (n=1-9) clusters are studied. The results indicate the doping of Nb atom in gallium clusters improves the chemical activities. In particular, the clusters with sizes of Ga₄Nb and Ga₇Nb are found to be more stable with respect to their respective neighbors. Our calculated vertical ionization potentials (VIPs) exhibit an obvious oscillating behavior with the cluster size increasing, except for Ga₃ and Ga₄Nb, suggesting the Ga₃, Ga₅, Ga₇, GaNb, Ga₃Nb, Ga₆Nb and Ga₈Nb clusters corresponding to the high VIPs. In the case of vertical electron affinities (VEAs) and chemical hardness η, VEAs are slightly increasing whereas chemical hardness η decreasing as Ga_nNb cluster size increases. Besides, the doping of Nb atom also brings the decrease as the cluster sizes increases for atomic spin magnetic moments (μ_b).     

Raman scattering and room temperature ferromagnetism in Co-doped SrTiO3 particles

Raman scattering has been used to study the influence of cobalt, an effective dopant to obtain SrTiO₃ magnetic oxide, on the lattice dynamics of SrTiO₃. It is found that Co doping increases the lattice defects and induces a Raman vibration mode of 690 cm⁻¹. On the other hand, the ferromagnetism dependence on the x and annealing temperature was clearly and coherently observed in SrTi_1−xCo_xO₃ (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03 and 0.05) nanoparticles. It is found that the ferromagnetism of SrTi_1−xCo_xO₃ nanoparticles is weakly related to crystal deformation and oxygen vacancies in SrTiO₃. So, F-center model can explain the origin of the ferromagnetism in the prepared Co-doped SrTiO₃ samples. At the same time, the finding of large room-temperature ferromagnetism (1.6 emu/g) in this system would stimulate further interest in the area of more complicated ternary oxides.     

Cavity ring down absorption spectroscopy of the BΣ-XΣ transition of YO

The absorption spectrum of the (2, 0) and (2, 1) bands of the B²Σ⁺-X²Σ⁺ transition of YO between 442 and 478 nm were recorded using laser vaporization/reaction with free-jet expansion and cavity ring down laser absorption spectroscopy. Local rotational perturbations have been found for both spin components of the v = 2 level of the B²Σ⁺ state. The observed perturbations could be ascribed to a degenerate perturbing state interacting with the B²Σ⁺ state. Least-squares fit of the observed upper state term values yielded molecular constants for the v = 2 level of the B²Σ⁺ state and the perturbing ²Π state. Earlier ab initio calculations [J. Chem. Phys. 89 (1988) 2160] indicated that the C²Π state is nearby, it is plausible that the C²Π state is the perturbing state.     

New approach for alpha decay half-lives of superheavy nuclei and applicability of WKB approximation

The α decay half-lives of recently synthesized superheavy nuclei (SHN) are calculated by applying a new approach which estimates them with the help of their neighbors based on some simple formulas. The estimated half-life values are in very good agreement with the experimental ones, indicating the reliability of the experimental observations and measurements to a large extent as well as the predictive power of our approach. The second part of this work is to test the applicability of the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation for the quantum mechanical tunneling probability. We calculated the accurate barrier penetrability for alpha decay along with proton and cluster radioactivity by numerically solving Schrödinger equation. The calculated results are compared with those of the WKB method to find that WKB approximation works well for the three physically analogical decay modes.     

Microscopic approach to nucleon spectra in hypernuclear non-mesonic weak decay

A consistent microscopic diagrammatic approach is applied for the first time to the calculation of the nucleon emission spectra in the non-mesonic weak decay of Λ-hypernuclei. We adopt a nuclear matter formalism extended to finite nuclei via the local density approximation, a one-meson exchange weak transition potential and a Bonn nucleon–nucleon strong potential. Ground state correlations and final state interactions, at second order in the nucleon–nucleon interaction, are introduced on the same footing for all the isospin channels of one- and two-nucleon induced decays. Single and double-coincidence nucleon spectra are predicted for ¹²_ΛC and compared with recent KEK and FINUDA data. The key role played by quantum interference terms allows us to improve the predictions obtained with intranuclear cascade codes. Discrepancies with data remain for proton emission.     

Comparison of the structural and magnetic properties of ground-state SrTcO3 and CaTcO3 from first principles

The generalized gradient approximation (GGA) plus on-site Coulomb interaction corrections (GGA+U) method is employed for the total energies and electronic structure calculations of SrTcO₃ and CaTcO₃. G-type antiferromagnetic (G-AFM) is found to be ground state for both compounds, in consistence with the previous experimental results. The mechanism of Neel temperature of SrTcO₃ being higher than that of CaTcO₃ is explored. The insulating band gaps of SrTcO₃ and CaTcO₃ are found to be 1.71 eV and 1.74 eV, respectively. The magnetic moment of Tc1 is found to be 2.237μ_B in SrTcO₃ unit cell and 2.266μ_B in CaTcO₃ unit cell. Structural parameters and electronic structure of the two compounds are examined to explore the origin of their different electrical and magnetic characters.