Effect of adsorbed water on the electrorheology of silica suspensions

Monodisperse silica particles were formed by hydrolyzing tetraethylorthosilicate in an ethanol solution and the silica suspensions dispersed in a silicone oil were prepared by a different procedure. The effects of adsorbed water on the electrorheological (ER) behavior were studied under oscillatory shear. The amounts of adsorbed water and surface silanol groups were determined by thermogravimetric analysis. The magnitude of the complex viscosity, |η^*|, increases with the application of electric fields. The physically adsorbed water is primarily responsible for the ER effect. However, the fluids containing large amounts of adsorbed water do not always show excellent ER performance. The surface silanol groups have an important role in promoting the ER effect. Not only the amount but also the situation of silanol groups determines the ER activity of adsorbed water.     

Ion chromatographic system with a novel switching suppression device

Ion chromatography (IC) has been a powerful tool for measuring ionic species in environmental samples such as tap, river and drain waters. Suppressor modules (membrane and disposable column types) have been used for reducing the background of a baseline. A new type of suppressor device, which has a suppressor resin and switching valve was developed. Fresh ionic resin is introduced into a groove for each analysis to perform the suppression of the working eluent. The eluent composition for obtaining higher sensitivity and better resolutions among ionic species and carbonate ion was also investigated. Although carbonate buffers are used for ion separation in general, the separation of carbonate ion from other ions was not achieved. A borate eluent resulted in good resolutions and higher sensitivity. A new column was also developed for obtaining higher column efficiency and resolution. The optimization of anion separation using a new IC system (IC-2001) that consists of a new suppressor device, an anion-exchange column (TSKgel SuperIC-Anion, 150x4.6 mm), an autosampler, a conductivity cell and a pump in a compact module is described.     

Duplex dissociation of telomere DNAs induced by molecular crowding

Because of the importance of telomere DNAs, the structures of these DNAs in vivo are currently of great research interest in the medical, pharmaceutical, chemical, and industrial fields. To understand the structure of biomolecules in vivo, their properties studied in vitro are extrapolated to the in vivo condition, while the condition in a living cell is inherently molecularly crowded and a nonideal solution contains various biomolecules. We investigated the effect of molecular crowding, which is one of the most important cellular environmental conditions, on the structure and stability of the telomere and G-rich and C-rich DNAs using circular dichroism (CD) spectra, CD melting curves, and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). The CD spectra and CD melting curves of G-rich DNA, C-rich DNA, and the 1:1 mixture of G-rich and C-rich DNAs showed that each G-rich DNA, C-rich DNA, and the 1:1 mixture form the antiparallel G-quadruplex, I-motif, and duplex, respectively, in the noncrowding condition as previously considered. On the contrary, the G-rich and C-rich DNAs individually form the parallel G-quadruplex and I-motif, respectively, in the molecular crowding condition, and the 1:1 mixture folds into the parallel G-quadruplex and I-motif but does not form a duplex. The ITC measurements indicated that the thermodynamic stability (DeltaG degrees (20)) of the duplex formation between the G-rich and C-rich DNAs in the noncrowding condition was -10.2 kcal mol(-)(1), while only a small heat change was observed in the ITC measurements in the molecular crowding condition. These ITC results also demonstrated that the molecular crowding condition prevents any duplex formation between G-rich and C-rich DNAs. These results indicate that a structural polymorphism of the telomere DNAs is induced by molecular crowding in vivo.     

Evaluation of chiral bidentate ligand–metal complexes in asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with 3-alkenoyl-2-oxazolidinones

For evaluation of a chiral C₂-symmetric bis(oxazoline) ligand, its Lewis acid complexes-catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones with electron-deficient dipolarophiles, 3-(2-alkenoyl)-1,3-oxazolidin-2-ones, have been investigated and it was found that the cycloadditions using a Cu(II)-bis(oxazoline) complex under optimized reaction conditions induced extremely high enantioselectivity.     

Controlled production of monodisperse double emulsions by two-step droplet breakup in microfluidic devices

A microfluidic device having both hydrophobic and hydrophilic components is exploited for production of multiple-phase emulsions. For producing water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) dispersions, aqueous droplets ruptured at the upstream hydrophobic junction are enclosed within organic droplets formed at the downstream hydrophilic junction. Droplets produced at each junction could have narrow size distributions with coefficients of variation in diameter of less than 3%. Control of the flow conditions produces variations in internal/external droplet sizes and in the internal droplet number. Both W/O/W emulsions (with two types of internal droplets) and oil-in-water-in-oil emulsions were prepared by varying geometry and wettability in microchannels.     

Asymmetric synthesis of bicyclo[n.1.0]alkanes by the enantioselective 1,3-CH insertion reaction of chiral magnesium carbenoids

Treatment of enantiomerically pure 1-chlorovinyl p-tolyl sulfoxides, derived from cyclic ketones and (R)-chloromethyl p-tolyl sulfoxide, with the lithium enolate of tert-butyl carboxylates gave adducts in quantitative yields as single diastereomers. The adducts were treated with i-PrMgCl in toluene to afford optically active bicyclo[n.1.0]alkanes bearing a tert-butyl carboxylate moiety in up to 99% enantiomeric excess through the enantioselective 1,3-CH insertion reaction of the generated chiral magnesium carbenoids. This is the first example of the enantioselective 1,3-CH insertion reaction of magnesium carbenoid.     

Synthesis, structure and thermal stability of fully hydrophobic porphyrin-DNA conjugates

The DNAs modified with tetraphenyl porphyrin at the center of 13mer oligonucleotide were synthesized using phosphoramidite chemistry and automated DNA synthesis. When the porphyrin modified oligonucleotide was annealed with its complementary strand, they formed a standard B-form duplex. The porphyrin moiety intercalated in the duplex, and moderately lowered the thermal stability.     

The first example of regiospecific magnesium carbenoid 1,3-CH insertion: its mechanism and stereochemistry

Addition reaction of two geometrical isomers of 1-chlorovinyl p-tolyl sulfoxides, derived from unsymmetrical ketones and chloromethyl p-tolyl sulfoxide, with lithium enolate of tert-butyl acetate gave single isomers of the adduct, respectively. Treatment of each diastereomer with i-PrMgCl resulted in the formation of magnesium carbenoids. Highly regiospecific 1,3-CH insertion reaction was found to take place from the magnesium carbenoids to afford cyclopropanes in high yields. Stereochemistry of the adducts, reaction mechanism, and origin of the regiospecificity are discussed.