A novel amidepyridinium-based tripodal fluorescent chemosensor for phosphate ion via binding-induced excimer formation

A new tripodal fluorescent chemosensor 1 having amidepyridinium moiety as the key binding site and anthracene moiety as the sensing subunit was synthesized. In competitive polar organic solvent, this chemosensor 1 displayed high selectivity toward by formation of binding-induced excimer emission.     

Dramatic improvement of catalyst life by rhodium and cerium additives for Ni-based reforming catalysts

Rhodium and cerium were found to be suitable additives for improving the sulfur-tolerance of Ni-based gasoline reforming catalysts. In these cases, the Rh content was only 0.1 wt.% with 5 wt.% of Ce. The lifetime of Rh-Ce-modified Ni-based catalyst is found to be above 600 hours at 1023K, which is over a ten times longer lifetime than that of the unmodified catalysts, when premium gasoline was used.     

Surface-imprinted nanostructured layer-by-layer film for molecular recognition of theophylline derivatives

In this article we report the introduction of the cooperativity of various specific interactions combined with photo-cross-linking of the interlayers to yield binding sites that can realize better selectivity and imprinting efficiency of a surface molecularly imprinted LbL film (SMILbL), thus providing a new approach toward fabrication of nanostructured molecularly imprinted thin films. It involves preassembly of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) conjugated of the theophylline residue template via a disulfide bridge, denoted as PAAtheo 15, in solution, and layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of PAAtheo 15 and a positively charged photoreactive diazo resin (DAR) to form multilayer thin film with designed architecture. After photo-cross-linking of the film and template removal, binding sites specific to 7-(beta-hydroxyethyl)theophylline (Theo-ol) molecules are introduced within the film. Binding assay demonstrates that the SMILbL has a high selectivity of SMILbL to Theo-ol over caffeine. A control experiment demonstrates that the selectivity of SMILbL derives from nanostructured recognition sites among the layers. The imprinting amount per unit mass of the film can be 1 order of magnitude larger than that of the conventional bulk molecular imprinting systems. As this concept of construction SMILbL can be easily extended to the other molecules by the following similar protocol: its applications in building many other different molecular recognition systems are greatly anticipated.     

Selective inclusion of cesium ion in a cryptand-type Ti(IV) complex derived from a tripodal tris-2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene ligand

A novel tripodand-type ligand (L1) having three 2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene end groups and a C₃ symmetric 1,3,5-tryimethylbenzene based backbone was prepared by the reaction of 1,3,5-tris(bromomethyl)-2,4,6-trimethylbenzene with 3-(2-(hydroxymethyl)allyloxy)naphthalene-2-ol followed by triple Claisen rearrangement. A 1:1 titanium complex which acts as a metallo-cryptand is obtained by the reaction of ligand (L1) with Ti(IV)(=O)(acac)₂ in the presence of base. The formation of the metallo-cryptand strongly depends on templating effects by counter cations and it shows a high selectively for the encapsulation of cesium cations in its cavity.     

Time-resolved in situ ATR-IR observations of the process of sorption of water into a poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate) film

A process of water sorption into a biocompatible polymer, poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate) (PMEA), was investigated by time-resolved, in situ, attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy. Evidence for three different types of hydrated water in PMEA, that is, nonfreezing water, freezing bound water, and freezing water, were found. Each hydration structure was elucidated at the functional group level. Nonfreezing water, which never crystallizes, even at -100 degrees C, has a C=O...H-O type of hydrogen bonding interaction with the carbonyl group of PMEA. Freezing bound water, which crystallizes in a heating process below 0 degrees C, interacts with the methoxy moiety in the PMEA side chain terminal. Freezing water, which crystallizes approximately 0 degrees C, has bulk-water-like structure with an O-H...O-H hydrogen bonds network. It has been concluded from the present study that the methoxy moiety in the PMEA side chain terminal plays an important role for the excellent biocompatibility of PMEA.     

High energy heavy ion tracks in bubble detectors

Bubble detectors which are commonly used as neutron detectors have been demonstrated through this study to be good detectors for registration of high energy heavy ion tracks. Large size bubble detectors made in China Institute of Atomic Energy were irradiated to heavy ions Ar and C up to 650 MeV/u and 400 MeV/u, respectively. Very clear features of stringy tracks of high energy heavy ions and their fragmentations are manifested and distinguishable. A single track created by a specific high energy heavy ion is composed of a line of bubbles, which is visible by naked eyes and retained for months wihhout reduction in size. The creation of heavy ion tracks in bubble detectors is governed by a threshold whose essence is approximately a critical value of energy loss rate (dE/dX)_c similar to that of etch track detectors. Ranges of heavy ions in bubble detectors are apparent and predictable by existing formulas. Identification of high energy heavy ions and the applications to heavy ion physics, cosmic rays, exotic particles and cancer therapy monitoring are obviously promising. The experimental and theoretical aspects of high energy heavy ion tracks in bubble detectors as well as the expectable applications are presented and discussed.     

A Novel Affinity Capillary Electrophoresis for the Detection of Gene Mutation Using Immobilized Oligonucleotides-Polyacrylamide Conjugate

It has been found that small mutations of certain genes are the definitive origin of many heritable disorders and cancers with striking development of recent molecular biology. Such new findings have taken close-up of the importance of gene mutation assays based on the difference of DNA base sequences in diagnostic or medical field Capillary electrophoresis can be a good candidate for an ideal method on such gene analysis, because the methods can be performed with trace amount of samples, high resolution and shorter running time. We have established an effect of oligonucleotide, which was introduced onto capillary inner surface, on the recognition of an overall sequence of sample DNA fragments as an affinity ligand.     

Synthesis and properties of polyimide-clay hybrid films

Polyimide-clay hybrid films with four different sizes of clay minerals have been synthesized to investigate the effect of the size of clay minerals to the properties of the hybrids. Hectrite, saponite, montmorillonite, and synthetic mica were used as clay minerals. Those clays consist of stacked silicate sheets about 460 Å (hectrite), 1650 Å (saponite), 2180 Å (montmorillonite), and 12300 Å (synthetic mica) in length, 10 Å in thickness. The longer the length of clay mineral was, the more effectively properties of polyimide were improved. In the case of polyimide-mica hybrid, only 2 wt % addition of synthetic mica brought permeability coefficients of water vapor to value less than one-tenth of that of ordinary unfilled polyimide, and thermal expansion coefficient was lowered at the level of 60% of the original one. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 35 : 2289–2294, 1997