Dispersion and Confinement Loss Control in Modified Hexagonal Photonic Crystal Fibers

This paper presents a novel technique for the control of chromatic dispersion and confinement loss in hexagonal photonic crystal fibers (H-PCFs). It is demonstrated that it is possible to obtain very low chromatic dispersion of 0 ± 0:38 ps/(nm·km) in the wavelength range of 1.41 to 1.66 μm and confinement loss of less than 0.0001 dB/km from a six ring modified H-PCF (MH-PCF). The higher order dispersion at 1.55 μm is about −0.001 ps/(nm²-km).     

Rattling in the Quadruple Perovskite CuCu3V4O12

Of particular interest is a peculiar motion of guest atoms or ions confined to nanospace in cage compounds, called rattling. While rattling provides unexplored physical properties through the guest–host interactions, it has only been observed in a very limited class of materials. Herein, we introduce an A‐site‐ordered quadruple perovskite, CuCu₃V₄O₁₂, as a new family of cage compounds. This novel AA′₃B₄O₁₂‐type perovskite has been obtained by a high‐pressure synthesis technique and structurally characterized to have cubic Im$\bar 3$ symmetry with an ionic model of Cu²⁺Cu²⁺₃V⁴⁺₄O₁₂. The thermal displacement parameter of the A‐site Cu²⁺ ion is as large as U_iso≈0.045 Ų at 300 K, indicating its large‐amplitude thermal oscillations in the oversized icosahedral cages. Remarkably, the presence of localized phonon modes associated with rattling of the A‐site Cu²⁺ ion manifests itself in the low‐temperature specific heat data. This work sheds new light on the structure–property relations in perovskites.     

Synthesis of Chiral Ionic Polymers Containing Quaternary Ammonium Sulfonate Structure and their Catalytic Activity in Asymmetric Alkylation

Repeated reaction between chiral quaternary ammonium dimer and disodium disulfonate gave the ionic polymer, which contains chiral quaternary ammonium sulfonate structure as a repeating unit. This chiral ionic polymer showed an excellent catalytic activity in asymmetric alkylation reaction. With the chiral ionic polymer catalysts, high level of enantioselectivities up to 97% ee were attained.     

Determination and purification of sesamin and sesamolin in sesame seed oil unsaponified matter using reversed‐phase liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array and tandem mass spectrometry and high‐speed countercurrent chromatography

In Asian countries, sesame seed oil unsaponified matter is used as a natural food additive due to its associated antioxidant effects. We determined and purified the primary lignans sesamin and sesamolin in sesame seed oil unsaponified matter using reversed‐phase liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array and tandem mass spectrometry and high‐speed countercurrent chromatography. Calibration curves showed good correlation coefficients (r² > 0.999, range 0.08 and/or 0.15 to 5 μg/mL) with a limit of detection (at 290 nm) of 0.02 μg/mL for sesamin and 0.04 μg/mL for sesamolin. Sesame seed oil unsaponified matter contained 2.82% sesamin and 2.54% sesamolin, respectively. Direct qualitative analysis of sesamin and sesamolin was achieved using quadrupole mass spectrometry with positive‐mode electrospray ionization. Pure (>99%) sesamin and sesamolin standards were obtained using high‐speed countercurrent chromatographic purification (hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water; 7:3:7:3). An effective method for determining and purifying sesamin and sesamolin from sesame seed oil unsaponified matter was developed by combining these separation techniques for standardized food additives.     

Structural effect of synthetic zwitterionic cosolutes on the stability of DNA duplexes

The molecular design of useful cosolutes for polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which is one of the most important techniques in molecular biology, plays a significant role in amplification of highly stable genome sequences because during PCR, strand dissociation sometimes fails due to high melting temperature. Here, we designed and synthesized eight new zwitterionic cosolutes derived from glycine betaine, a destabilizing reagent for GC-rich DNA duplexes, and systematically compared their ability to destabilize DNA duplexes and to amplify genome DNA by PCR. We found that introduction of n-butyl groups rather than methyl groups into the ammonium group reduced the melting temperature of DNA duplexes 11-fold more than what was observed for the scaffold cosolute, glycine betaine, and furthermore, the cosolute can amplify the stable genome sequence by PCR.     

Photoinduced electron transfer and excitation energy transfer in directly linked zinc porphyrin/zinc phthalocyanine composite

Photoinduced electron transfer (ET) and excitation energy transfer (ENT) reactions in monomer and slipped-cofacial dimer systems of a directly linked Zn porphyrin (Por)-Zn phthalocyanine (Pc) heterodyad, ZnPc-ZnPor, were investigated by means of the picosecond and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopies. In the dimer dyad system of two heterodyads connected through the coordination bond between two imidazolyl-substituted ZnPor bearing ZnPc, ZnPc-ZnPor(D), the rapid ENT from the ZnPor to ZnPc in the subpicosecond time region was followed by photoinduced charge separation (CS) and charge recombination (CR) with time constants of 47 and 510 ps, respectively. On the other hand in the monomer dyad system, no clear charge-separated state was observed although the CS with a time constant of 200 ps and CR with < or =70 ps were estimated. These results indicated that the dimer slipped-cofacial arrangement of pair porphyrins is advantageous for the effective production of the CS state. This advantage was discussed from the viewpoint of a decrease in the reorganization energy of the dimer relative to that of the monomer system. In addition, the electrochemical measurements indicated that the strong interaction between ZnPc and ZnPor moieties also contributed to the fast CS process despite the marginal driving force for the CS process. The dimer dyad of ZnPc-ZnPor provides full advantages in efficiencies of the light harvesting and the CS state production.