Capillary zone electrophoretic studies of ion association between inorganic anions and tetraalkylammonium ions in aqueous-dioxane media

Ion association between inorganic anions and symmetrical tetraalkylammonium ions, R4N+ (R = Me, Et, Pr, n-Bu, n-Am, and 2-methyl butyl {isoamyl = iAm}) was investigated using ordinary silica capillary by capillary zone electrophoresis. An improved version of the Williams-Vigh method was used for the first time to measure the mobilities of the inorganic anions. Plots of log Kass against log dielectric constant in various media, revealed a smaller change in Kass compared to dielectric constant. These plots suggest that the Bjerrum's equation is inadequate in accounting for the associations of ions in a CZE setup.     

Photoemission studies of a clean and oxidized niobium-aluminum alloy using synchrotron radiation

The alloy formation and oxidation of a Nb-rich Nb-Al alloy has been studied using core level photoemission in combination with synchroton radiation as a surface sensitive probe. Exactly the same chemical shifts were observed from both the Nb-Al alloy and an Al-evaporated Nb surface, indicating similar structural arrangements. It is found that the oxidation rate of Nb in these structures is drastically decreased in comparison to either pure Nb metal or Nb₃Sn. Two stages in the oxidation of the Nb-Al alloy are clearly distinguished by chemical shifts of the Al_2p, Nb_4p and O_2p levels.     

Extreme fluorescence sensitivity of some aniline derivatives to aqueous and nonaqueous environments: mechanistic study and its implication as a fluorescent probe

Effects of solvent water on the photophysical properties of a series of meta- and para-substituted anilines have been investigated by means of time-resolved fluorescence, transient absorption, and photoacoustic measurements. Some aniline derivatives exhibit extremely short fluorescence lifetime (tau(f)) and small quantum yield (Phi(f)) in water (e.g., tau(f) = 45 ps and Phi(f) = 0.0019 for m-cyanoaniline (m-ANCN) in H(2)O), which is in marked contrast with their much larger values in nonaqueous solvents (tau(f) = 7.3 ns and Phi(f) = 0.14 for m-ANCN in acetonitrile). Photoacoustic and transient absorption measurements show that the remarkable fluorescence quenching of m-ANCN in water is attributed almost exclusively to fast internal conversion. The lifetime measurements of m-ANCN in H(2)O/acetonitrile binary solvent mixtures reveal that the quenching is related to variation of hydrogen-bonding interactions between the amino group and water molecules and the conformational change of the amino group upon electronic excitation. Similar fluorescence quenching due to solvent water is also found for N-alkylated m-ANCNs. The drastic differences in the fluorescence intensity and lifetime of m-ANCNs under hydrophobic and hydrophilic environments and also the large solvent polarity dependence of the fluorescence band position suggest the possibility that they can be utilized as fluorescent probes for investigating the microenvironment of biological systems. In suspensions of human serum albumin (HSA) in water, remarkable enhancement of the fluorescence intensity and lifetime is observed for m-ANCN and its N-alkylated derivatives, demonstrating that m-ANCNs can be a candidate for novel fluorescent probe with small molecular size.     

Stability problems for Cantor stochastic differential equations

We consider driftless stochastic differential equations and the diffusions starting from the positive half line. It is shown that the Feller test for explosions gives a necessary and sufficient condition to hold pathwise uniqueness for diffusion coefficients that are positive and monotonically increasing or decreasing on the positive half line and the value at the origin is zero. Then, stability problems are studied from the aspect of Hölder-continuity and a generalized Nakao–Le Gall condition. Comparing the convergence rate of Hölder-continuous case, the sharpness and stability of the Nakao–Le Gall condition on Cantor stochastic differential equations are confirmed. Furthermore, using the Malliavin calculus, we construct a smooth solution to degenerate second order Fokker–Planck equations under weak conditions on the coefficients.     

Some Inequalities Related to Transience and Recurrence of Markov Processes and Their Applications

For an irreducible symmetric Markov process on a (not necessarily compact) state space associated with a symmetric Dirichlet form, we give Poincaré-type inequalities. As an application of the inequalities, we consider a time-inhomogeneous diffusion process obtained by a time-dependent drift transformation from a diffusion process and give general conditions for the transience or recurrence of some sets. As a particular case, the diffusion process appearing in the theory of simulated annealing is considered.     

Regiocontrolled intramolecular cyclizations of carboxylic acids to carbon-carbon triple bonds promoted by acid or base catalyst

We systematically investigated, for the first time, the relationship between regioselectivity and acid/base effects in the cyclization reactions between carboxylic acids and carbon-carbon triple bonds. We found novel acid- and base-promoted cyclizations to selectively give isocoumarin or pyran-2(2H)-one and phthalide or furan-2(5H)-one skeletons, respectively, and established a catalytic version of regioselective heterocyclic ring synthesis. Density functional theory calculations and application to a short route to thunberginol A were also described. [reaction: see text].     

Rhodium-catalyzed allyl transfer from homoallyl alcohols to aldehydes via retro-allylation followed by isomerization into ketones

Retro-allylation of homoallyl alcohol by rhodium catalysis occurs to generate allylrhodium species. This allylrhodium reacts with aldehydes to give the corresponding secondary alcohols in situ. Isomerization of these alcohols proceeds in the same pots to furnish the corresponding saturated ketones in good yields. [reaction: see text]