High-Field and Multifrequency ESR Studies at KYOKUGEN in Osaka University

We have developed high-field and multifrequency (HFMF) electron spin resonance (ESR) apparatus for the magnetic fields up to 65 T at frequencies up to about 6 THz. In addition to this pulsed field ESR apparatus, we are making a multifrequency ESR apparatus with very high sensitivity in a static field. We report the results of ESR studies on BaCoV₂O₈ and NiGa₂S₄, followed by recent developments and future plans of our HFMF ESR apparatus.     

Design of Ratiometric Fluorescent Probes Based on Arene–Metal‐Ion Interactions and Their Application to CdII and Hydrogen Sulfide Imaging in Living Cells

Non‐coordinative interactions between a metal ion and the aromatic ring of a fluorophore can act as a versatile sensing mechanism for the detection of metal ions with a large emission change of fluorophores. We report the design of fluorescent probes based on arene–metal‐ion interactions and their biological applications. This study found that various probes having different fluorophores and metal binding units displayed significant emission redshift upon complexation with metal ions, such as Ag^I, Cd^II, Hg^II, and Pb^II. X‐ray crystallography of the complexes confirmed that the metal ions were held in close proximity to the fluorophore to form an arene–metal‐ion interaction. Electronic structure calculations based on TDDFT offered a theoretical basis for the sensing mechanism, thus showing that metal ions electrostatically modulate the energy levels of the molecular orbitals of the fluorophore. A fluorescent probe was successfully applied to the ratiometric detection of the uptake of Cd^II ions and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) in living cells. These results highlight the utility of interactions between arene groups and metal ions in biological analyses.     

Analysis of electroweak precision data and prospects for future improvements

We update our previous work on an analysis of the electroweak data by including new and partly preliminary data available up to the 1996 summer conferences. The new results on the partial decay widths into and hadrons now offer a consistent interpretation of all data in the minimal standard model. The value extracted for the strong interaction coupling constant agrees well with determinations in other areas. New constraints on the universal parameters , and are obtained from the updated measurements. No signal of new physics is found in the , , analysis once the SM contributions with GeV and those of not a too heavy Higgs boson are accounted for. The naive QCD-like technicolor model is now ruled out at the 99% CL even for the minimal model with . In the absence of a significant new physics effect in the electroweak observables, constraints on masses of the top quark, , and Higgs boson, , are derived as a function of and the QED effective coupling . The preferred range of depends rather strongly on the actual value of : for , while for at 95% CL. Prospects due to forthcoming improved measurements of asymmetries, the mass of the weak boson , and are discussed. Anticipating uncertainties of 0.00020 for , 20 MeV for , and 2 GeV for , the new physics contributions to the , , parameters will be constrained more severely, and, within the SM, the logarithm of the Higgs mass can be constrained to about . The better constraints on , , and on within the minimal SM should be accompanied with matching precision in . Received: 18 June 1997     

Diastereoselective photochromism of bisbenzothienylethenes with an oxycarbonyl-related functional group on the side chain

Nine 1-[2-(1-substituted)ethyl-3-benzothienyl]-2-(2-methyl-3-benzothienyl)hexafluorocyclopentenes (4-substituted benzoyloxy, N-arylcarbamoyloxy, and aryloxycarbonyloxy) were synthesized. They showed diastereoselective photochromic ring closure upon UV irradiation. Among them, 4-nitrophenoxycarbonyloxy-substituted compound recorded a remarkable 94% diastereomer excess with 91% conversion to the closed form.     

A concise route to the C2-symmetric tricyclic skeleton of ryanodine

Ryanodine is a potent calcium channel modulator. In this Letter, we report the 10-step synthesis of the highly substituted tricyclic ring system of ryanodine. Diels-Alder reaction via dearomatization of 2,5-dimethylbenzene-1,4-diol and subsequent SmI₂-mediated reductive coupling of eight-membered 1,5-diketone efficiently introduced the four consecutive fully substituted carbons of the tricyclo[3.3.2.0^2,6]decane system.     

An improvement of discrete Tardos fingerprinting codes

It has been proven that the code lengths of Tardos’s collusion-secure fingerprinting codes are of theoretically minimal order with respect to the number of adversarial users (pirates). However, the code lengths can be further reduced as some preceding studies have revealed. In this article we improve a recent discrete variant of Tardos’s codes, and give a security proof of our codes under an assumption weaker than the original Marking Assumption. Our analysis shows that our codes have significantly shorter lengths than Tardos’s codes. For example, when c = 8, our code length is about 4.94% of Tardos’s code in a practical setting and about 4.62% in a certain limit case. Our code lengths for large c are asymptotically about 5.35% of Tardos’s codes. A part of this work was presented at 17th Applied Algebra, Algebraic Algorithms, and Error Correcting Codes (AAECC-17), Bangalore, India, December 16–20, 2007.     

Characterization of NIES CRM No. 23 Tea Leaves II for the determination of multielements

A candidate environmental certified reference material (CRM) for the determination of multielements in tea leaves and materials of similar matrix, NIES CRM No. 23 Tea Leaves II, has been developed and characterized by the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan. The origin of the material was tea leaves, which were ground, sieved through a 106-μm mesh, homogenized, and then subdivided into amber glass bottles. The results of homogeneity and stability tests indicated that the material was sufficiently homogeneous and stable for use as a reference material. The property values of the material were statistically determined based on chemical analyses by a network of laboratories using a wide range of methods. Sixteen laboratories participated in the characterization, and nine certified values and five reference values were obtained. These property values of the candidate CRM, which are expressed as mass fractions, were close to the median and/or mean values of the mass fractions of elements in various tea products. The candidate CRM is appropriate for use in analytical quality control and in the evaluation of methods used in the analysis of tea and materials of similar matrix.