Enzyme‐Catalyzed Preparation of Aliphatic Polyesters Containing Thioester Linkages

Aliphatic polyesters containing thioester linkages were enzymatically prepared by both the copolymerization of lactone with mercaptoalkanoic acid and by the transesterification of polyesters with mercaptoalkanoic acids. The enzymatic copolymerization of ε‐caprolactone with 11‐mercaptoundecanoic acid (11MU) and 3‐mercaptopropionic acid (3MP) was performed under reduced pressure using an immobilized lipase from Candida antarctica (CA). The transesterification of poly(ε‐caprolactone) and poly[(R)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate] was carried out with 11MU and 3MP using lipase CA under reduced pressure.

     

Anionic Sublattices in Halide Solid Electrolytes: A Case Study with the High-Pressure Phase of Li3ScCl6

The Li₃MX₆ compounds (M=Sc, Y, In; X=Cl, Br) are known as promising ionic conductors due to their compatibility with typical metal oxide cathode materials. In this study, we have successfully synthesized γ-Li₃ScCl₆ using high pressure for the first time in this family. Structural analysis revealed that the high-pressure polymorph crystallizes in the polar and chiral space group P6₃mc with hexagonal close-packing (hcp) of anions, unlike the ambient-pressure α-Li₃ScCl₆ and its spinel analog with cubic closed packing (ccp) of anions. Investigation of the known Li₃MX₆ family further revealed that the cation/anion radius ratio, r_M/r_X, is the factor that determines which anion sublattice is formed and that in γ-Li₃ScCl₆, the difference in compressibility between Sc and Cl exceeds the ccp r_M/r_X threshold under pressure, enabling the ccp-to-hcp conversion. Electrochemical tests of γ-Li₃ScCl₆ demonstrate improved electrochemical reduction stability. These findings open up new avenues and design principles for lithium solid electrolytes, enabling routes for materials exploration and tuning electrochemical stability without compositional changes or the use of coatings.     

Quantification of local oxygen defects around Yttrium ions for yttria-doped ceria–zirconia ternary system

Local coordination structure around Yttrium ions in CeO₂–Y₂O₃ binary and [(CeO₂)_x(ZrO₂)_1?x]_0.8(YO_1.5)_0.2 (x = 0.0 ~ 1.0) ternary system has been investigated by ⁸⁹Y MAS-NMR. NMR spectra are found to be consisted of multiple peaks that can be assigned to 6-, 7- and 8-oxygen coordinated Yttrium ions. Compositional dependence of the spectrum was observed and compared with the previous results for ZrO₂–Y₂O₃ binary system. The present investigation suggested the degree of localization of the oxygen vacancy around the cation is in the order of Zr⁴⁺ > Y³⁺ > Ce⁴⁺. The degree of the oxygen vacancy preference for each cation was quantitatively determined for CeO₂–ZrO₂–Y₂O₃ ternary system the first time.     

Synthesis of chiral oxime ethers based on regio- and enantioselective allylic substitution catalyzed by iridium-pybox complex

The oxygen atom of oximes acts as a reactive nucleophile in the iridium-catalyzed allylic substitution of unsymmetrical substrates to give the branched oxime ethers. Among several chiral ligands evaluated, the iridium complex of pybox ligand having phenyl group catalyzed the allylic substitution of phosphates with high activity to form the branched oxime ethers with good enantioselectivities.     

Total Synthesis of (−)‐FR182877 through Tandem IMDA–IMHDA Reactions and Stereoselective Transition‐Metal‐Mediated Transformations

Intelligent design : The total synthesis of the cytotoxic (?)‐FR182877 relies on 1) tandem Diels–Alder reactions to close rings A–D (see scheme), 2) a palladium‐mediated 7‐exo‐trig reaction, and 3) an iridium‐mediated isomerization followed by epimerization and stereoselective reduction.

     

On extensions of some Flugede–Putnam type theorems involving (p,k)‐quasihyponormal,spectral, and dominant operators

A Hilbert space operator S is called (p, k)‐quasihyponormal if S *^k ((S *S)^p – (SS *)^p )S^k ≥ 0 for an integer k ≥ 1 and 0 < p ≤ 1. In the present note, we consider (p, k)‐quasihyponormal operator S ∈ B (H) such that SX = XT for some X ∈ B (K,H) and prove the Fuglede–Putnam type theorems when the adjoint of T ∈ B (K) is either (p, k)‐quasihyponormal or dominant or a spectral operator (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Classifying homeomorphism groups of infinite graphs

In this paper, we classify topologically the homeomorphism groups H(Γ) of infinite graphs Γ with respect to the compact-open and the Whitney topologies.     

Well-posedness and weak rotation limit for the Ostrovsky equation

We consider the Cauchy problem of the Ostrovsky equation. We first prove the time local well-posedness in the anisotropic Sobolev space Hs,a with s>−a/2−3/4 and 0?a?−1 by the Fourier restriction norm method. This result include the time local well-posedness in Hs with s>−3/4 for both positive and negative dissipation, namely for both βγ>0 and βγ<0. We next consider the weak rotation limit. We prove that the solution of the Ostrovsky equation converges to the solution of the KdV equation when the rotation parameter γ goes to 0 and the initial data of the KdV equation is in L². To show this result, we prove a bilinear estimate which is uniform with respect to γ.     

Second-harmonic spectroscopy of surface immobilized gold nanospheres above a gold surface supported by self-assembled monolayers

We have investigated linear and nonlinear optical properties of surface immobilized gold nanospheres (SIGNs) above a gold surface with a gap distance of a few nanometers. The nanogap was supported by amine or merocyanine terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiolates. A large second-harmonic generation (SHG) was observed from the SIGN systems at localized surface plasmon resonance condition. The maximum enhancement factor of SHG intensity was found to be 3 x 10(5) for the SIGN system of nanospheres 100 nm in diameter with a gap distance of 0.8 nm. The corresponding susceptibility was estimated to be chi((2))=750 pmV (1.8 x 10(-6) esu). In the SIGN system supported with the merocyanine terminated SAMs, the SHG response was also resonant to the merocyanine in the nanogap. It was found that the SHG response of the SIGN systems is strongly frequency dependent. This leads us to conclude that the large chi((2)) is caused by enhanced electric fields at the localized surface plasmon resonance condition and is not due to an increase of the surface susceptibility following from the presence of the gold nanospheres. The observed SHG was consistent with the theoretical calculations involving Fresnel correction factors, based on the quasistatic approximation.