Effect of introducing acrylic and methacrylic acid groups on molecular relaxation of poly(ethyl methacrylate)

Dielectric and infrared data have been obtained over a wide temperature range on copolymers of ethyl methacrylate with methacrylic and acrylic acid synthesized by radical copolymerization. The dissociation energy ΔH⁰ for the acid dimer in the copolymer is estimated from the temperature dependence of the relaxation strength Δε_α of the α relaxation, which is associated with the glass transition. The value of δH⁰ obtained by this method is in fair agreement with that determined by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The strength of the α relaxation and its activation energy are both increased by the incorporation of methacrylic acid units but are decreased by acrylic acid units. This behavior is attributed to the restriction of main-chain motions by hydrogen-bonded acid dimers in the copolymers with methacrylic acid and to the incorporation of more flexible links in the copolymers with acrylic acid. The β relaxation observed below the glass transition temperatures is almost unaffected by the incorporation of methacrylic acid.     

Biomimetic reactions of some macrocyclic diterpenes

Some macrocyclic diterpenes derived from euphohelioscopin A and euphornin have been stereoselectively converted into the jatropholane- and daphnane-type compounds and the known tricyclic compound which has been treated with phCOCl - pyridine to afford euphohelionone, the new type of diterpene isolated from euphorbia helioscopia L.     

Charge-transfer absorption spectra between tetracyclo[3.2.0.02,7.04,6]heptane and π-type electron acceptors

Charge-transfer transition energies, association constants, and molar extinction coefficients of complexes between tetracyclo[3.2.0.0^2,7.0^4,6]heptane(quadricyclane) and olefine type or quinone type acceptors were measured in methylene chloride at 20°. An excellent linear relationship (r = 0·9938) with a slope of 0·96 was observed in plots of ν_max(CT) for a series of complexes of quadricyclane against ν_max(CT) for the corresponding complexes of N,N-dimethyl-aniline, indicating that quadricyclane forms electron donor-acceptor complexes of weak interactions. The first ionization potential, estimated from the hyperbolic relationship between the charge-transfer transition energy (E_CT) and the ionization potential, was an exceptionally low value (8·28–8·32 eV) for a saturated hydrocarbon and was indeed in the same order of magnitude with that of norbornadiene, which was well reproduced by EHM and MINDO/1 calculations applying Koopmans' theorem to the calculated HOMO energy.     

Fluorescence studies on nyctinasty which suggest the existence of genus-specific receptors for leaf-movement factor

Periodic leaf-movement of legumes is called nyctinasty and has been known since the age of Alexander the Great. We found that nyctinasty is controlled by a periodic change of the internal concentration of leaf-opening and leaf-closing substances in the plant body. Now, we have developed novel fluorescent probes (1) based on the structure of cis-p-coumaroylagmatine (3), which was isolated as a leaf-opening substance of Albizzia juribrissin Durazz. Binding experiments using probe 1 showed that Albizza plants have receptors for a leaf-opening substance in their motor cells. By using probes 1 we then found that genus-specific receptors are involved in nyctinasty.     

Interactions of mixed surfactant solution with liposome membrane

Interactions of the mixed surfactant solution of dodecylamido propyl dimethyl aminoacetate and sodium dodecyl sulfate with the liposomal membrane were studied. Lytic activities of the surfactants were measured as a function of the concentrations of surfactant and phospholipid and the composition of mixed surfactants. The solubilization limits of phospholipid by surfactants were determined from the change of their aggregation behavior in suspensions at equilibrium by means of quasi-elastic light scattering. The mixed surfactant solutions showed lower lytic activity than single component surfactant solution in spite of the strong adsorption onto the liposome surface. This was attributed to low solubilization power of binary mixture for phospholipid.     

Monomeric and dimeric red/NIR-fluorescent dipyrrin–germanium complexes: facile monomer–dimer interconversion driven by acid/base additions

Highly coordinate germanium complexes of the N2O2-type tetradentate dipyrrin ligand have been synthesized. X-ray crystallographic analysis revealed the pentacoordinate structure of dimeric germanium complex 2 (=(Ge)₂O) and the hexacoordinate structure of monomeric complex 3 (=Ge(OMe)(HOMe)). The dimer 2 was easily hydrolyzed in a solution to give monomer 4, though the corresponding siloxane (Si)₂O did not react under the same conditions. The addition of DBU to a solution of 4 gave dimer 5, and neutralization by adding acetic acid regenerated the monomer 4, providing the facile and reversible interconversion between the monomer and dimer. The dipyrrin germanium complexes showed an intense absorption and fluorescence near the NIR region, which is more red-shifted than the silicon complexes.     

A practical and facile synthesis of azetidine derivatives for oral carbapenem, L-084

An orally active carbapenem L-084, which exhibits high bioavailability in humans, has a 1-(1,3-thiazolin-2-yl)azetidin-3-ylthio moiety at the C-2 position of the 1beta-methylcarbapenem skeleton. We established a practical and cost-effective synthesis of 3-mercapto-1-(1,3-thiazolin-2-yl)azetidine (1) for further scale-up production of L-084. This synthesis method entails an industry-oriented reaction of azetidine ring-closure to yield N-benzyl-3-hydroxyazetidine (16), which is eventually converted to 1 via key intermediates, Bunte salts 19 and 20.     

Mixed micelles containing sodium oleate: the effect of the chain length and the polar head group

We have investigated the mixing behavior of binary mixtures of the alkylglucosides (CnG) octyl beta-D-glucoside and decyl D-glucoside in combination with sodium oleate (NaOl), and the amine oxide surfactants (AO) N,N-dimethyldodecylamine oxide, N,N-bis (2-hydroxyethyl)dodecylamine oxide, and 3-lauramidopropyl-N,N-dimethylamine oxide in combination with NaOl. From the equilibrium surface tension measurements, the critical micelle concentration (cmc) data were obtained as functions of the composition. Values of the cmc were analyzed according to both the regular solution model developed by Rubingh for mixed micelles and Maeda's formulation for ionic/nonionic mixed micelles. Two interaction parameters, beta and B1, were estimated from the regular solution model and Maeda's formulation, respectively. For NaOl/CnG mixed systems, a decrease in the hydrocarbon chain length of CnG resulted in a stronger interaction with NaOl from both beta and B1 values. For NaOl/AO mixed systems, the bulkiness of a polar head group of AO surfactants influenced the interaction between NaOl and AO. The dynamic surface tension measurements show that all surface tension values of surfactant solutions examined decreased with the time. We found that the time dependence of surface tension values for NaOl mixed systems was greatly influenced by the presence of NaOl rather than the other component.