Electronic and vibrational surface-enhanced Raman scattering: from atomically defined Au(111) and (100) to roughened Au

In surface-enhanced Raman spectra, vibrational peaks are superimposed on a background continuum, which is known as one major experimental anomaly. This is problematic in assessing vibrational information especially in the low Raman-shift region below 200 cm⁻¹, where the background signals dominate. Herein, we present a rigorous comparison of normal Raman and surface-enhanced Raman spectra for atomically defined surfaces of Au(111) or Au(100) with and without molecular adsorbates. It is clearly shown that the origin of the background continuum is well explained by a local field enhancement of electronic Raman scattering in the conduction band of Au. In the low Raman-shift region, electronic Raman scattering gains additional intensity, probably due to a relaxation in the conservation of momentum rule through momentum transfer from surface roughness. Based on the mechanism for generation of the spectral background, we also present a practical method to extract electronic and vibrational information at the metal/dielectric interface from the measured raw spectra by reducing the thermal factor, the scattering efficiency factor and the Purcell factor over wide ranges in both the Stokes and the anti-Stokes branches. This method enables us not only to analyse concealed vibrational features in the low Raman-shift region but also to estimate more reliable local temperatures from surface-enhanced Raman spectra.

Both electronic and vibrational information at the metal/dielectric interface were explicitly extracted from surface-enhanced Raman spectra.     

NMR analysis of cellulose dissolved in aqueous NaOH solutions

Low molecular weight cellulose (degree of polymerization = ca 15) was dissolved in 4-- 30% NaOD/D2O, and relationships between 1H- and 13C-chemical shifts of the cellulose and NaOD concentrations were studied in terms of the dissociation of three hydroxyl groups of cellulose in aqueous NaOH solutions. All C---H proton resonances were shifted upfield linearly with an increase in the NaOD concentration, indicating that all C---H protons of cellulose undergo the electron-shielding effect by NaOH. On the other hand, the shifting patterns of carbon resonances varied among the six carbons: C1 and C4 carbons undergo the electron-shielding effect, whereas C2, C3, C5, and C6 carbons experience the electron-deshielding effect by NaOH. Changes in 13C-chemical shifts of cellulose carbons in 4--30% NaOD/D2O indicate that C3---OH has the highest resistance to dissociation in aqueous NaOH of the three hydroxyl groups of an anhydroglucose residue. It is plausible, at least from the aspects of 13C-chemical shifts, that cellulose molecules dissolving in 20--30% NaOH behave differently from those swollen in 20--30% NaOH as alkali- cellulose     

CuX2-mediated [4+2] benzannulation as a new synthetic tool for stereoselective construction of haloaromatic compounds

The CuX₂-mediated reaction of enynal units, including ortho-alkynylbenzaldehydes, with alkynes gives a variety of haloaromatic compounds stereoselectively in good to high yields. 2,2′-Binaphthyl skeletons are also readily prepared by the reaction of ortho-alkynylbenzaldehydes and diynes. The method was applied to the synthesis of poly-substituted tetracene derivatives.     

Large Raman-scattering activities for the low-frequency modes of substituted benzenes: induced polarizability and stereo-specific ring-substituent interactions

The large nonresonant Raman-scattering activities of the out-of-plane bending and torsional modes of monosubstituted benzene analogs are studied by low-frequency Raman experiments and B3LYP6-31++G(d,p) calculations. Electronic interactions between the sigma orbitals of the substituent and the pi orbitals of the ring are found to enhance the Raman activities, depending on the substituent and its conformation. In the case of tert-butylbenzene [C6H5C(CH3)3] and trimethylphenylsilane [C6H5Si(CH3)3], three single bonds which are linked to the alpha atom of the substituent have low rotational barriers around the joint bond. Nearly free rotation of the substituents leads to a significant probability for one of the single bonds to occupy a conformation close to the vertical configuration with respect to the ring at room temperature. The resultant sigma-pi electronic interaction gives rise to the large Raman activities. In contrast, those possessing a single bond in a coplanar (or nearly coplanar) configuration at the most stable equilibrium state, i.e., anisole (C6H5OCH3), thioanisole (C6H5SCH3), and N-methylaniline (C6H5NHCH3), display no prominent Raman bands for the low-frequency vibrational modes. In these molecules, the sigma-pi conjugation does not take place due to the orthogonal orientation of the orbitals. Strong conformational dependence of the sigma-pi Raman enhancement is clearly obtained for the metastable vertical conformer of thioanisole, for which Raman activities are one-order magnitude greater than those of the coplanar conformer.     

Structural and functional properties of designed globins

De novo design of artificial proteins is an essential approach to elucidate the principles of protein architecture and to understand specific functions of natural proteins and also to yield novel molecules for medical and industrial aims. We have designed artificial sequences of 153 amino acids to fit the main-chain framework of the sperm whale myoglobin structure based on the knowledge-based energy functions to evaluate the compatibility between protein tertiary structures and amino acid sequences. The synthesized artificial globins bind a single heme per protein molecule as designed, which show well-defined electrochemical and spectroscopic features characteristic of proteins with a low-spin heme. Redox and ligand binding reactions of the artificial heme proteins were investigated and these heme-related functions were found to vary with their structural uniqueness. Relationships between the structural and functional properties are discussed.     

Lower bounds for the distributions of certain multivariate test statistics

A lower (upper) bound is given for the distribution of each d_j, j = k + 1, …, p (j = 1, …, s), the jth latent root of AB^?1, where A and B are independent noncentral and central Wishart matrices having $\text{W}{}_{\mathrm{p}}\text{(q, Σ; Ω)}$ with rank $\text{(Ω) ≤ k = p ? s}$ and W_p(n, Σ), respectively. Similar bound are also given for the distributions of noncentral means and canonical correlations. The results are applied to obtain lower bounds for the null distributions of some multivariate test statistics in Tintner's model, MANOVA and canonical analysis.     

Degradation of TEMPO-oxidized cellulose fibers and nanofibrils by crude cellulase

The biodegradation behavior of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)-oxidized cellulose fibers (TOCs) suspended in water and TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TOCNs) dispersed in water by a commercial crude cellulase was studied. Products crude cellulase-treated for 0–7 days were separated into water/ethanol-insoluble and -soluble fractions. Weight recovery ratios and viscosity-average degrees of polymerization of the water/ethanol-insoluble fractions clearly decreased with crude cellulase-treatment time, showing that both TOCs and TOCNs have biodegradability. Water/ethanol-soluble fractions were subjected to size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) with photodiode array (PDA) detection to obtain SEC elution patterns detected by reflective index and UV spectra of each SEC pattern elution slice. SEC–PDA and ¹³C-NMR analyses showed that glucuronosyl unit-containing molecules present on microfibril surfaces in TOCs and TOCNs were primarily cleaved by hydrolyzing enzymes present as contaminants in the crude cellulase to form glucuronic acid as one of the major water-soluble degradation compounds. After the glucuronosyl units in TOCs and TOCNs were degraded and removed from microfibril surfaces by the hydrolyzing enzymes, cellulose chains newly exposed on the microfibril surfaces were rapidly hydrolyzed by cellulases predominantly present in the crude cellulase to form cellobiose. Both TOCs and TOCNs having sodium carboxyl groups are thus biodegradable, but TOCN having free carboxyl groups had clearly low biodegradability by the crude cellulase. Thus, biodegradation behavior may be controllable by controlling the structure of carboxyl group counter ions in TOCs and TOCNs.