Metal‐Ion Selectivity of Chemically Modified Uracil Pairs in DNA Duplexes

DNA duplexes containing 5‐modified uracil pairs (5‐bromo, 5‐fluoro, and 5‐cyanouracil) bind selectivity to metal ions. Their selectivity is sensitive to the pH value of the solution (see picture), as the acidities of the modified uracil bases vary according to the electron‐withdrawing properties of the substituents.

     

Impact of isomeric structures on transistor performances in naphthodithiophene semiconducting polymers

Four isomeric naphthodithiophenes (NDTs) with linear and angular shapes were introduced into the polythiophene semiconductor backbones, and their field-effect transistor performances were characterized. The polymers bearing naphtho[1,2-b:5,6-b']dithiophene (NDT3), an angular-shaped NDT, exhibited the highest mobilities of ～0.8 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) among the four NDT-based polymers, which is among the highest reported so far for semiconducting polymers. Interestingly, the trend of the mobility in the NDT-based polymers was contrary to our expectations; the polymers with angular NDTs showed higher mobilities than those with linear NDTs despite the fact that naphtho[2,3-b:6,7-b']dithiophene (NDT1), a linear-shaped NDT, has shown the highest mobility in small-molecule systems. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that angular-NDT-based polymers gave the highly ordered structures with a very close π-stacking distance of 3.6 ?, whereas linear-NDT-based polymers had a very weak or no π-stacking order, which is quite consistent with the trend of the mobility. The nature of such ordering structures can be well understood by considering their molecular shapes. In fact, a linear NDT (NDT1) provides angular backbones and an angular NDT (NDT3) provides a pseudostraight backbone, the latter of which can pack into the highly ordered structure and thus facilitate the charge carrier transport. In addition to the ordering structure, the electronic structures seem to correlate with the carrier transport property. MO calculations, supported by the measurement of ionization potentials, suggested that, while the HOMOs are relatively localized within the NDT cores in the linear-NDT-based polymers, those are apparently delocalized along the backbone in the angular-NDT-based polymers. The latter should promote the efficient HOMO overlaps between the polymer backbones that are the main paths of the charge carrier transport, which also agrees with the trend of the mobility. With these results, we conclude that angular NDTs, in particular NDT3, are promising cores for high-performance semiconducting polymers. We thus propose that both the molecular shapes and the electronic structures are important factors to be considered when designing high performance semiconducting polymers.     

Design of a multinuclear Zn(II) complex as a new molecular probe for fluorescence imaging of His-tag fused proteins

A Zn(II) complex (Zn(II)-Ida) was designed as the new fluorescent probe for His-tag fused proteins. Thanks to the tight binding ability to histidine-rich sequences and bright fluorescence property of the Cy5-appended Zn(II)-Ida probes, selective and clear fluorescent imaging of the His-tag fused G-protein coupled receptors on live cell surfaces was carried out.     

2,2']Bi[naphtho[2,3-b]furanyl]: a versatile organic semiconductor with a furan-furan junction

[2,2']Bi[naphtho[2,3-b]furanyl] was synthesized, characterized, and examined as an organic semiconductor for thin-film OFETs, bilayer OPVs, and organic light-emitting transistors (OLETs). In the devices, the material acted as a p-type semiconductor, showing moderately high mobility in OFETs, good photo conversion efficiency in OPVs, and blue-green emission in OLETs.     

Copper-catalyzed skeletal rearrangement of O-propargylic alkylaldoximes via N-O bond cleavage

O-Propargylic oximes that possess a proton at the α-position of the oxime group were effectively converted to the corresponding oxiranyl N-alkenylimines via a 5-endo-dig cyclization followed by the cleavage of the N-O bond.     

Facile synthesis of [1]benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene from o-dihalostilbenes

A convenient one-pot synthesis of [1]benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene from readily available o-dihalostilbenes using combined reagents of sodium sulfide nonahydrate (Na₂S·9H₂O) or sodium hydrosulfide hydrate (NaSH·nH₂O) and sulfur is described along with plausible reaction paths in this intriguing reaction.     

Humidity sensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance of multilayer thin films of gold nanoparticles linked with myoglobin

Layer-by-layer self-assembled multilayer thin films of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) linked with myoglobin (Mb) show substantial sensitivity to humidity at room temperature according to measurements of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption that relies on the interparticle interaction present in the film. The sensor response is reversible, with response and recovery times as low as 5 s. The sensing mechanism is as follows: as the ambient humidity changes, Mb molecules change their size, making the GNP-to-GNP spacing and thereby the interparticle interaction change; the change in the interparticle interaction causes a change in the LSPR absorption of the multilayer thin film. We found that the LSPR band of the multilayer thin film was almost insensitive to both the surrounding refractive index and the adlayer thickness, rendering the multilayer-film-based humidity sensor highly immune to ambient disturbances.     

Ratiometric fluorescence detection of a tag fused protein using the dual-emission artificial molecular probe

We have successfully developed a ratiometric detection system for protein of interest using the complementary recognition pair of the tetra-aspartate peptide tag and the SNARF-appended Zn(ii)-DpaTyr probe.     

Ordered porous carbon with tailored pore size for electrochemical hydrogen storage application

Ordered porous carbon with tailored pore size represents an innovative concept in electrochemical hydrogen storage. This work deals with physical characteristics and electrochemical hydrogen storage behavior of the ordered porous carbons with well-tailored pore size, synthesized by a replica technique using hexagonal mesoporous silica as templates. By using a mixture of two surfactants (HTAB and C16EO8) at different ratios, it is possible to control the wall thickness of silica and, consequently, the pore diameter of carbons within a narrow range of 2.1-2.8 nm. In addition, highly developed ultramicroporosity (pore size smaller than 0.7 nm), which plays a predominant role in hydrogen storage, can be produced in the ordered porous carbons. A discharge capacity of up to 527 mAh/g (corresponding to 1.95 wt % hydrogen storage) has been achieved in 6 M KOH for the ordered porous carbon. Furthermore, the ordered porous carbons also possess excellent capacity retainability after charge-discharge cycles and rate capability.