The afterglow characteristics of xenon pulsed plasma for mercury-free fluorescent lamps

The similarity of the abundance of heavy nuclei in the Universe with that of the nuclei produced in the fully reproducible reactions of protons in host metals like palladium, nickel or others is evident and can be described by the same exponential function of the distribution probability N(Z) depending on the proton number Z of the nuclides. This agrees with the earlier derived consequence of a 3 ⁿ relation for magic numbers and an alternative foundation of the nuclear shell model. Compared to femtometer-attosecond reactions in the big bang, the low energy nuclear reactions in the host metals have picometer distances and megasecond duration. For this picometer distance, a combination of the swimming electron layer and Debye screening model with a metal-plasma dielectric model is presented.     

Measurement of two solvation regimes in water-ethanol mixtures using x-ray compton scattering

Water-ethanol mixtures exhibit interesting anomalies in their macroscopic properties. Despite a lot of research, the origin of the anomalies and the microscopic structure itself is still far from completely known. We have utilized the synchrotron x-ray Compton scattering technique to elucidate the structure of aqueous ethanol from a new experimental perspective. The technique is uniquely sensitive to the local molecular geometries at the angstrom and subangstrom scales. The experiments reveal two distinct mixing regimes in terms of geometry: the dilute 5 mol % and the concentrated >15 mol % regimes. By comparing with pure liquids, the former regime is characterized by an intramolecular and the latter by an intermolecular change. The findings bring new light to evaluating the hypothesis of formation of clathratelike structures at the dilute concentrations.     

Desorption Mass Spectrometry for Nonvolatile Compounds Using an Ultrasonic Cutter

In this work, desorption of nonvolatile analytes induced by friction was studied. The nonvolatile compounds deposited on the perfluoroalkoxy substrate were gently touched by an ultrasonic cutter oscillating with a frequency of 40 kHz. The desorbed molecules were ionized by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) ion source. Efficient desorption of samples such as drugs, pharmaceuticals, amino acids, and explosives was observed. The limits of detection for these compounds were about 1 ng. Many compounds were detected in their protonated forms without undergoing significant fragmentation. When the DBD was off, no ions for the neutral samples could be detected, meaning that only desorption along with little ionization took place by the present technique.

An efficient heteropolyacid catalyzed acylation of pyruvate esters to alpha-acyloxyacrylate esters as potential candidate monomers for bio-based polymers

Alpha-acyloxyacrylate esters were efficiently synthesized from pyruvate esters and carboxylic anhydrides under mild conditions. These esters are potential candidate monomers for bio-based polymers with high durability and transparency. Tungsten-based Keggin type heteropolyacids, especially H(3)PW(12)O(40), worked more effectively as catalysts for this reaction than other typical acids.     

In silico design, synthesis and evaluation of 3'-O-benzylated analogs of salacinol, a potent α-glucosidase inhibitor isolated from an Ayurvedic traditional medicine "Salacia"

With the aid of an in silico method, α-glucosidase inhibitors with far more potent activities than salacinol (1), a potent natural α-glucosidase inhibitor isolated from an Ayurvedic traditional medicine Salacia reticulata, have been developed.     

Studies on neurosteroids XX. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method for simultaneous determination of testosterone and 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone in rat brain and serum

Testosterone (T) and 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) are now referred to not only as androgenic steroid hormones, but also as neuroactive steroids, because they elicit anesthetic and anxiolytic effects. Methods using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS-MS) coupled with derivatization are developed and validated to examine rat brain and serum levels of T and DHT and their stress-induced changes. The steroids are extracted with methanol-acetic acid from the brain tissue or serum, purified using solid-phase extraction cartridges, derivatized with a permanently charged reagent, 2-hydrazino-1-methylpyridine, and subjected to LC-MS-MS. [19,19,19-(2)H3]-T is used as the internal standard. The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation are below 10.0%, and the analytical recoveries are 98.1-103.0%. The developed methods are applied to the animal study and it was found that a fair amount of DHT is continuously and locally synthesized in the brain, and its level is not changed by the immobilization stress and depends on the brain T level.     

Anaerobic biodegradation tests of poly(lactic acid) and polycaprolactone using new evaluation system for methane fermentation in anaerobic sludge

The anaerobic biodegradation tests of polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) powders were done at thermophilic temperature (55 °C) under aquatic conditions (total solid concentrations of the used sludge were 1.73% (undiluted sludge) and 0.86% (diluted sludge)) using a newly developed evaluation system. With this system, the evolved biogas is collected in a gas sampling bag at atmospheric pressure. This method is more convenient than using a pressure transducer or inverted graduated cylinder submerged in water. The biodegradation of PCL powder (10 g, 125–250 μm) in the diluted sludge stopped in about 47 days when the biodegradability reached 92%. The biodegradability of PLA powder (10 g, 125–250 μm) in undiluted sludge was 91% at about 75 days. The biodegradability of PLA powder (10 g, 125–250 μm) in diluted sludge was 79% at about 100 days. The biodegradability of PLA powder (5 g, 125–250 μm) in diluted sludge was 80% at about 85 days. It was found that the PCL and PLA powders were quite degraded using the new evaluation method. In addition, the smaller particle size PCL powder was biodegraded faster.     

Synthesis of 6H,8H-isoquino[2,3-c][1,3]benzothiazin-8-ones

6H,8H-Isoquino-1,3-benzothiazin-8-ones have been prepared by reaction of 6,7-dimethoxy-2H-1,3-benzo-thiazines with homophthalic anhydride and by photocyclization of 3-benzoyl-4-methylene-6,7-dimethoxy 2H-1,3-benzothiazine. The compounds are thia analogues of protoberberine alkaloids containing a sulfur atom at C-5 and a lactam function at C-8. The mass spectra of the title compounds are discussed.