Amylose‐grafted Curdlan: A New Class of Semi‐artificial Branched Polysaccharides for Hierarchical Polymeric Superstructures Created by the Action of “Orthogonal” Binding Sites

The semi‐artificial branched‐polysaccharides, amylose‐grafted curdlans, were synthesized utilizing an enzymatic polymerization. Both a curdlan main chain and amylose side chains on the polysaccharides maintain the original helical structure as well as the molecular binding ability. Thanks to the difference in their molecular recognition properties between β‐1,3‐glucan chain and α‐1,4‐glucan chain, the amylose‐grafted curdlans can provide two different orthogonal binding sites within one polymeric system. When a water‐soluble polythiophene was mixed with the amylose‐grafted curdlan, the polythiophene was twisted in two different modes and therein, fluorescence energy of the polythiophene wrapped by the amylose side chains was successfully transferred to the polythiophene wrapped by the curdlan main chain. We thus concluded that in the dendritic superstructure of this polysaccharide, a self‐organized “Janus‐type FRET system” was successfully constructed.     

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies on initial oxidation of iron and manganese mono-silicides

Initial oxidation of iron and manganese mono-silicides (FeSi and MnSi) surfaces was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Clean surfaces of these silicides were prepared by fracturing in an ultra high vacuum, and then the fractured surfaces were oxidized by exposing to high-purity oxygen at pressures up to 1.3 Pa. For the clean FeSi surface, positive chemical shifts of the Fe 2p_3/2 and Si 2p peaks from elemental Fe and Si were 0.5 eV and 0.1 eV, respectively. For the clean MnSi surface, a negative chemical shift of the Si 2p peak from elemental Si was 0.1 eV. Iron on the FeSi surface was oxidized at an oxygen pressure of 1.3 Pa, whereas the silicon was oxidized under the pressure of 1.3 × 10⁻⁶ Pa, indicating that oxidation of silicon occurred prior to that of iron. Manganese and silicon on the MnSi were simultaneously oxidized in the range from 1.3 × 10⁻⁶ Pa to 1.3 × 10⁻³ Pa; however, over the pressure of 1.3 Pa, the oxidation of manganese occurs prior to that of silicon. These oxidation behaviors at low oxygen pressures were similar to those of the FeSi and MnSi fractured in air.     

Synthesis and optical properties of organic–inorganic hybrid semi‐interpenetrating polymer network gels containing polyfluorenes

Organic–inorganic hybrid semi‐interpenetrating polymer network (semi‐IPN) gels containing polyfluorenes (PFs) are synthesized by hydrosilylation reaction of joint and rod molecules in toluene, where PFs are poly(9,9‐dihexylfluorene‐2,7‐diyl) (PF6) or, poly(9,9‐dioctylfluorene‐2,7‐diyl) (PF8), joint molecules are 1,3,5,7‐tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (TMCTS), or 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15‐octakis(dimethylsilyloxy)pentacyclo‐[9,5,1,1,1,1]octasilsesquioxane (POSS), and rod molecules are 1,5‐hexadiene (HD) or 1,9‐decadiene (DD). The semi‐IPN gels containing low molecular weight PF6 show higher photoluminescence efficiency (?_g) than the toluene solution of PF6L (?_s). The semi‐IPN gels composed of long rod molecule of DD and cubic joint molecule of POSS show the most effective increase in the emission intensity. The emission intensity of PF6L increases as formation of the network in the POSS‐DD semi‐IPN gel. The POSS‐DD semi‐IPN gels containing high molecular weight PF6 and PF8 also show the increase of emission intensity than those of the toluene solutions. The semi‐IPN synthesized in cyclohexane show syneresis and phase separation between network structure and PF chains. The semi‐IPN gels containing PF8 show emission peaks at 450 and 470 nm derived from β‐sheet structure of PF8. A systematic study clears correlation between emission property and network structure and/or composition of semi‐IPN gels. The semi‐IPN gels provide emissive self‐standing soft materials with high efficiency and in a narrow wavelength range emission. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 973–984     

Noncommutative Brownian Motion in Monotone Fock Space

An example of noncommutative Brownian motion is constructed on the monotone Fock space which is a kind of “Fock space” generated by all the decreasing finite sequences of positive real numbers. The probability distribution at time associated to this Brownian motion is shown to be the arcsine law normalized to mean 0 and variance t. Received: 15 March 1996\,/\,Accepted: 2 July 1996     

Fluorescence Quenching of 1-Pyrenemethanol by Methylviologen in Polystyrene Latex Dispersions

Fluorescence quenching of 1-pyrenemethanol by methylviologen through photoinduced electron transfer is investigated in polystyrene (PS) latex dispersions as well as in aqueous homogeneous solutions. In aqueous homogeneous solutions, the Stern-Volmer plot for the intensity is linear and close to that for the lifetime, indicating a dynamic quenching mechanism. In PS latex dispersions, however, the Stern-Volmer plots for the intensity are downward curving and the decay curves are not so much affected by the quencher as those for aqueous solutions, implying a significant contribution of static quenching. The downward-curving Stern-Volmer plots are well described by a two-site model that assumes accessible and inaccessible sites to the acceptor on latex particles. The Stern-Volmer constants obtained indicate that in the latex dispersions the fluorescence quenching occurs several hundreds times more efficiently than that in an aqueous homogeneous solution. This drastic enhancement of the quenching in latex dispersions is attributed to the increase in the local concentrations of the reactants on the latex surface. We have demonstrated the usefulness of latex surfaces as a new type of reaction field for photoinduced electron transfer.     

Thermodynamics of

Formation of cobalt(II)-thiocyanato complexes in nonionic surfactant solutions of poly(ethylene oxide) type with varying poly(ethylene oxide) chain lengths of 7.5 (Triton X-114), 30 (Triton X-305), and 40 (Triton X-405) has been studied by titration spectrophotometry and calorimetry at 298 K. Data were analyzed by assuming formation of a series of ternary complexes Co(NCS)(n)Y(m)((2-n)+) (Y=surfactant) with an overall formation constant beta(nm). In all the surfactant systems examined, data obtained can be explained well in terms of formation of Co(NCS)(+) and Co(NCS)(2) in an aqueous phase (aq), and Co(NCS)(4)Y(2-) in micelles, and their formation constants, enthalpies, and entropies have been determined. The beta(41)/beta(20) ratio increases and the corresponding enthalpy becomes significantly less negative with an increasing number of ethylene oxide groups. This suggests that micelles of these nonionic surfactants have a heterogeneous inner structure consisting of ethylene oxide and octylphenyl moieties. Indeed, on the basis of molar volumes of ethylene oxide and octylphenyl groups, intrinsic thermodynamic parameters have been extracted for the reaction Co(NCS)(2)(aq)+2NCS(-)(aq)=Co(NCS)(4)Y(2-) (Delta(r)G degrees, Delta(r)H degrees, and Delta(r)S degrees ) at each moiety. The Delta(r)G degrees, Delta(r)H degrees, and Delta(r)S degrees values are -16 kJ mol(-1), -15 kJ mol(-1), and 3 J K(-1) mol(-1), respectively, for the ethylene oxide moiety, and -15 kJ mol(-1), -70 kJ mol(-1), and -183 J K(-1) mol(-1) for octylphenyl. Significantly less negative Delta(r)H degrees and Delta(r)S degrees values for ethylene oxide imply that the hydrogen-bonded network structure of water is extensively formed at the ethylene oxide moiety, and the structure is thus broken around the Co(NCS)(4)(2-) complex with weak hydrogen-bonding ability. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Selective cis-addition of C-H bonds of pyrroles and thiophenes to alkynes catalyzed by a dinuclear palladium complex

Pyrroles and thiophenes reacted with alkynes in the presence of dinuclear palladium complexes with high stereoselectivity (cis-addition) in almost all cases. While regioselectivity in the reaction with pyrroles depended on substituents on the nitrogen atom and alkynes, all reactions of thiophenes afforded 2-alkenylthiophenes.     

Cobalt(II) chloro complexation in N-methylformamide–N, N-dimethylformamide mixtures

Cobalt(II) chloro complexation has been studied by titration calorimetry and spectrophotometry in solvent mixtures of N-methylformamide (NMF) and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). It revealed that a series of mononuclear CoCln_n ^(2–n)+ (n=1–4) complexes are formed in the mixtures of NMF mole fraction x _NMF=0.05 and 0.25, and the CoCl⁺, CoCl₃ ^– and CoCl₄ ^2– complexes in the mixture of x _NMF=0.5, and their formation constants, enthalpies and entropies were obtained. As compared with DMF, the complexation is markedly suppressed in the mixtures, as well as in NMF. The decreasing formation constant of CoCl⁺ with the NMF content is mainly ascribed to the decreasing formation entropy. DMF is aprotic and thus less-structured, whereas NMF is protic to form hydrogen- bonded clusters. In DMF-NMF mixtures, solvent clusters in neat NMF are ruptured to yield new clusters involving DMF, the structure of which depends on the solvent composition. The entropy of formation of CoCl⁺ will be discussed in relation to the liquid structure of DMF, NMF and their mixtures.     

An efficient catalytic enantioselective fluorination of β-ketophosphonates using chiral palladium complexes

On the basis of our Pd enolate chemistry, we have succeeded in developing an efficient catalytic enantioselective fluorination of β-ketophosphonates. In the presence of chiral Pd complexes 1 (1-10 mol %), various substrates including cyclic and acyclic β-ketophosphonates underwent the reaction with N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide (NFSI) in EtOH to give the corresponding fluorinated products in a highly enantioselective manner (94-98% ee).     

Phase transition and conductive acceleration of phosphonium-cation-based room-temperature ionic liquid

An unusual ionic conduction phenomenon related to the phase transition of a novel phosphonium-cation-based room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) is reported; we found that in the phase change upon cooling, a clear increase in ionic conductivity was seen as the temperature was lowered, which differs from widely known conventional RTILs; clearly, our finding of abnormality of the correlation between temperature change and ionic conduction is the first observation in the electrolyte field.