Rational Molecular Design towards Vis/NIR Absorption and Fluorescence by using Pyrrolopyrrole aza‐BODIPY and its Highly Conjugated Structures for Organic Photovoltaics

Pyrrolopyrrole aza‐BODIPY (PPAB) developed in our recent study from diketopyrrolopyrrole by titanium tetrachloride‐mediated Schiff‐base formation reaction with heteroaromatic amines is a highly potential chromophore due to its intense absorption and fluorescence in the visible region and high fluorescence quantum yield, which is greater than 0.8. To control the absorption and fluorescence of PPAB, particularly in the near‐infrared (NIR) region, further molecular design was performed using DFT calculations. This results in the postulation that the HOMO–LUMO gap of PPAB is perturbed by the heteroaromatic moieties and the aryl‐substituents. Based on this molecular design, a series of new PPAB molecules was synthesized, in which the largest redshifts of the absorption and fluorescence maxima up to 803 and 850 nm, respectively, were achieved for a PPAB consisting of benzothiazole rings and terthienyl substituents. In contrast to the sharp absorption of PPAB, a PPAB dimer, which was prepared by a cross‐coupling reaction of PPAB monomers, exhibited panchromatic absorption across the UV/Vis/NIR regions. With this series of PPAB chromophores in hand, a potential application of PPAB as an optoelectronic material was investigated. After identifying a suitable PPAB molecule for application in organic photovoltaic cells based on evaluation using time‐resolved microwave conductivity measurements, a maximized power conversion efficiency of 1.27 % was achieved.     

High-throughput characterization of local conductivity of Nd0.9Ca0.1Ba2Cu3O7−δ thin film by the low-temperature scanning microwave microscope

We developed a scanning microwave microscope (SμM) designed for high-throughput electric-property screening as well as for rapid construction of electronic phase diagrams at low temperatures. As a sensor probe, we used a high-Qλ/4 coaxial cavity resonator to which a thin needle with ball-tip end was attached. The sensor module was mounted on the low-temperature XYZ stage, which allowed us to map out the change of resonance frequency and quality factor due to the local tip-sample interaction at low temperatures. From the measurements of combinatorial thin films, such as Ti_1−xCo_xO_2−δ and Nd_0.9Ca_0.1Ba₂Cu₃O_7−δ (NCBCO), it was demonstrated that this SμM system has enough performance for the high-throughput characterization of sample conductance under variable temperature conditions.     

InGaAs/InAlAs Five Layer Asymmetric Coupled Quantum Well (FACQW) for Ultra-Wideband Ultrafast Optical Modulators

An InGaAs/InAlAs five-layer asymmetric coupled quantum well (FACQW) is expected to show very large electrorefractive index change. n in a wideband transparency region. Band structures of the FACQW are analyzed with Luttinger-Kohn Hamiltonian. The electrorefractive characteristics of the FACQW are discussed.     

Investigation of the drying conditions for amidosulfuric acid.

The drying conditions for primary standards of volumetric analysis have a significant effect on the titration results due to changes in the purity, stability and homogeneity. Amidosulfuric acid, a strong acid used as a reference material for volumetric analysis in Japan, was dried in a vacuum desiccator or heated at different temperatures, and then measured by Karl-Fischer titration, thermogravimetry/mass spectroscopy (TG-MS), ion chromatography and coulometric titration. The optimum drying conditions were at 50 degrees C for 24 h with crushing.     

Inhibitory effects of 3-O-acyl-(+)-catechins on Epstein-Barr virus activation

In the course of an exploratory investigation of antitumor-promoting catechins, 3-O-acyl-(+)-catechins of varying carbon lengths from C(4) to C(18) were assessed for inhibitory effects on the activation of the Epstein-Barr virus early antigen. Like 3-O-acyl-(-)-epigallocatechins, the (+)-catechin derivatives showed promising effects with the C-3 acyl chain of C(8)-C(11) carbon atoms.     

Synthesis,crystal structure and charge transport characteristics of stable peri-tetracene analogues

peri-Acenes have shown great potential for use as functional materials because of their open-shell singlet biradical character. However, only a limited number of peri-acene derivatives larger than peri-tetracene have been synthesized to date, presumably owing to the low stability of the target compounds in addition to the complicated synthesis scheme. Here, a very simple synthesis route for the tetrabenzo[a,f,j,o]perylene (TBP) structure enables the development of highly stable peri-tetracene analogues. Despite a high degree of singlet biradical character, the compounds with four substituents at the zigzag edge show a remarkable stability in solution under ambient conditions, which is better than that of acene derivatives with a closed-shell electronic configuration. The crystal structures of the TBP derivatives were obtained for the first time; these are valuable to understand the relationship between the structure and biradical character of peri-acenes. The application of peri-acenes in electronic devices should also be investigated. Therefore, the semiconducting properties of the TBP derivative were investigated by fabricating the field-effect transistors.

Highly stable peri-tetracene analogues with a high degree of singlet biradical character were synthesized in a very simple route, and their crystal structures and semiconducting properties were investigated.     

Total Synthesis of Natural PI-091, a New Platelet Aggregation Inhibitor of Microbial Origin

The total synthesis of a new platelet aggregation-inhibiting gamma-lactam PI-091 (1) gave a 1:1 diastereomeric mixture at the gamma-ketal carbon. The high-yielding aldol reaction of an appropriately protected 1,3,4-trihydroxy-4-methyldecan-2-one 42, prepared from D-glucose, with the kinetically generated enolate of 3-methyl-2-butanone provided 43. The resulting diastereomeric mixture of the aldol adduct 43 was converted to a 2,4-alkylated furan 45 via an intramolecular ketalization followed by dehydration. The addition of a singlet oxygen to the alpha-trimethylsilylated furan 48derived from 45 under photochemical conditions efficiently provided an alpha,gamma-dialkylated gamma-hydroxy gamma-lactone 47. The transformation of methyl ketal 52 prepared from 47 into gamma-hydroxy gamma-lactam 53 was achieved by exposure to liquid ammonia in MeOH. The total synthesis of 1 was achieved from 52 through the Dess-Martin periodinane oxidation of the secondary hydroxy group in the side chain. The present total synthesis revealed that the stereogenic carbon center in the side chain in natural 1 is S.     

Smectic layer structure of ferroelectric liquid crystal formed between fine polymer fibres

This paper describes the alignment of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) structures formed between aligned polymer fibres, where the FLC smectic layers are determined by polarising microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The FLC/polymer composite films were formed from a nematic phase FLC/monomer solution using a photopolymerisation-induced phase separation method. It was found that bending of the FLC smectic layers was induced in both the film plane and the cross-sectional plane at the phase transition from smectic A to chiral smectic C of the FLC material. The light transmittance properties of the composite film between crossed polarizers was analysed by light propagation simulation in several optical anisotropic media, based on the evaluated smectic layer model.     

Optical microscopy and in situ Raman scattering of single crystalline ethylene hydrate and binary methane-ethylene hydrate at high pressures

Visual observations through a microscope and in situ Raman measurements have been made for single crystalline ethylene hydrate (EH) and binary methane-ethylene hydrate (MEH) at pressures up to 3.7 GPa and room temperature. Both hydrates showed pressure-induced phase transitions at 1.6, 2.0, and 3.0 GPa for EH and at 1.7, 2.1, and 3.3 GPa for MEH. The cubic sI phase of EH and MEH remains stable up to 1.6 and 1.7 GPa, respectively, which are more widely ranging values than the values for the methane hydrate sI phase. In this sI phase of binary MEH, the cage occupancies by methane and ethylene molecules are investigated from Raman spectra. Above P = 3.0 GPa for EH and 3.3 GPa for MEH, they decomposed by associating with the formation of the polyethylene.     

Electronic and ionic transports for negative charge carriers in smectic liquid crystalline photoconductor

We have investigated negative charge carrier transport in the smectic mesophases of the 2-phenylnaphthalene derivative, 6-(4'-octylphenyl)-2-dodecyloxynaphthalene (8-PNP-O12), using the time-of-flight (TOF) method. We revealed that the negative charge carrier transport in its smectic mesophases had two different mechanisms, i.e., electronic and ionic conductions: we observed two transits of the carriers in both the smectic A (SmA) and smectic B (SmB) phases and demonstrated their origins by dilution experiments with a hydrocarbon (n-dodecane); the fast transit was attributed to the electronic transport of electrons and the slow one to the ionic transport of negative ions. Furthermore, it was clarified that the ionic transport was caused by small amounts of chemical impurities ionized by trapping photogenerated electrons in 8-PNP-O12 in addition to photoinduced autoionization of the impurities. Furthermore, we determined the trapping lifetimes for electrons to be 140 and 24 mus for the SmA and SmB phases, respectively. The experimental results suggest the coexistence of two distinctive transport channels for these charge carriers in the smectic mesophases.