Calorimetric study ofβ-cyclodextrin undecahydrate

Heat capacities of crystalline-cyclodextrin undecahydrate have been measured in the temperature range between 13 and 300K by use of a miniaturized adiabatic low-temperature calorimeter. A first-order phase transition occurred at 226K with a discontinuous entropy change of 45.0 ± 1.0J K ^–1 mol^–1. The highly disordered nature of the high temperature phase was considered in relation to the entropy contribution. A glass transition phenomenon observed around 150K was ascribed to the freezing of a configurational change of the protons engaged in the four-membered hydrogen-bonded ring which appeared only in the low temperature phase.     

Thermodynamic investigation on glassy states of pure simple compounds

The present review deals primarily with glass transition phenomena in pure simple compounds and pays special attention to the thermodynamic aspects of the vitrification process. The concept of glassy state is extended to liquid crystalline and even to crystalline materials which have any type of disorder. Thus the familiar supercooled liquid-glass transition is shown to be just one example of a class of ‘glass transitions’ due to loss of equilibrium which must occur quite frequently in condensed matter. Evidence of several glass transition phenomena in one and the same compound is given. The fact that glass should be considered as one of the states of aggregation of matter, irrespective of either the method of formation or the existence of three-dimensional periodicity in molecular arrangements, is stressed.     

Enantioselective Protonation of Cyclic Carbonyl Ylides by Chiral Lewis Acid Assisted Alcohols

Chiral Lewis acid-catalyzed asymmetric alcohol addition reactions to cyclic carbonyl ylides generated from N-(α-diazocarbonyl)-2-oxazolidinones featuring a dual catalytic system are reported. Construction of a chiral quaternary heteroatom-substituted carbon center was accomplished in which the unique heterobicycles were obtained in good yields with high stereoselection. The alcohol adducts were successfully converted to optically active oxazolidine-2,4-diones by hydrolysis. Mechanistic studies by DFT calculations revealed that alcohols could be activated by Lewis acids, enabling enantioselective protonation of the carbonyl ylides.     

UV dose measurements of photosensitive dermatosis patients by polycrystalline GaN-based portable self-data-acquisition UV monitors

We have developed a UV monitor with polycrystalline (poly-) gallium nitride (GaN) UV sensors and evaluated its performance from the viewpoint of its effectiveness for use with photosensitive dermatosis patients. The poly-GaN UV sensor is sensitive to UV light from 280 to 410 nm even without optical filters. The UV monitor is a portable self-data-acquisition instrument with a minimum detection level (defined as average UV intensity over 290 to 400 nm) of 2 microW/cm2 and can store UV dose data for 128 days. It allows easy measurement of four orders of magnitude of ambient UV intensity and dose from indoor light to direct solar radiation in summer. Trial use of the UV monitor by five xeroderma pigmentosum patients started in June 2000 and was carried out for 1 year. It was demonstrated that the UV monitor was useful in improving their quality of life.     

A novel [60]fullerene receptor with a Pd(II)-switched bisporphyrin cleft

Porphyrin dimer 1, which does not have an inside cavity and cannot interact with [60]fullerene (C60), becomes an excellent C60-acceptor with a large cavity in the presence of a Pd(II) complex.     

Oligo(octithienylene-diethynylene)s as unprecedentedly long conjugated nanomolecules

[reaction: see text] A series of oligo(octithienylene-diethynylene)s alternately composed of octithiophene and diacetylene units have been prepared by a random Eglinton coupling reaction among mono- and diethynyloctithiophenes. The largest compound isolated in the oligomeric series is comprised of twelve octithiophene units and eleven diacetylene units, and its molecular length reaches ca. 43 nm, which is the longest among single-component conjugated nanomolecules.     

Robust D-wave pairing correlations in a hole-doped spin-fermion model

Pairing correlations are studied numerically in a hole-doped spin-fermion model. Simulations performed on up to 12 x 12 clusters provide indications of D-wave superconductivity away from half-filling comparable to those of the 2D t-J model. The pairing correlations are the strongest in the direction perpendicular to the dynamic stripes that appear in the ground state at some densities. An optimal doping, where correlations are maximized, was observed at approximately 25% doping with an estimated T(c) approximately 100-200 K, in qualitative agreement with high-T(c) cuprates' phenomenology, while pairing correlations are suppressed by static stripe inhomogeneities.