Spin-Hall effect: Back to the beginning at a higher level

The phenomena of the spin-Hall effect, initially proposed over three decades ago in the context of asymmetric Mott skew scattering, was revived recently by the proposal of a possible intrinsic spin-Hall effect originating from a strongly spin-orbit coupled band structures. This new proposal has generated an extensive debate and controversy over the past 2 years. On August 2006 the first workshop on the spin-Hall effect was held at the Asian Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics. Its purpose was to bring together many of the leading groups in this field to resolve such issues and identify future challenges. We offer this short summary to clarify formerly controversial issues now settled and help refocus the research efforts in new and important avenues.     

Relation between Hall-magnetohydrodynamics and the kinetic Alfvén wave

Effects of a finite ion temperature on the Hall magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), which breaks down for a finite ion temperature, are clarified in terms of a rigorous three-field kinetic dispersion relation. The MHD mode equation becomes anisotropic with respect to the ion pressure because of the double adiabaticity in ion dynamics.     

Biospecific thermal analyzer coupled with a flowthrough immobilized enzyme column

A thermal analyzer consisting of a pair of glass thermistors was coupled with a flowthrough immobilized enzyme reactor for the determination of ATP concentration. Hexokinase was covalently bound to poly(chloromethyl-styrene-divinyl benzene) beads and packed in the reactor. The thermal analyzer was designed so as to respond to heat generation in the reactor. A maximum temperature change was exhibited within 1.5 min after the injection of a sample solution containing ATP together with glucose. Thermal decay occurred within 1 min. The thermal analyzer responded reproducibly to ATP at a constant concentration. Assays could be repeated at 3-min intervals. The effects of sample volume and flow rate on the response were examined with regard to an empirical equation. Concentration of ATP was determined with the thermal analyzer in the range of 0-10 mM. The thermal analyzer may be a simple device for the rapid determination of ATP concentration.     

Synthesis of thromboxane A2 analogs—2 : (±)-Thiathromboxane A2

The total synthesis of (±)-11a-methano- 9,11-thiathromboxane A₂(1), the sulfur analog of thromboxane A₂ is described     

The behaviour of carbon species produced by CO disproportionation on Ru(1, 1, 10) and Ru(001) surfaces

The behaviour of adsorbed CO on Ru(001) flat and Ru(l,1,10) stepped surfaces in the CO pressure range between 10^?6 and 10¹ Pa has been investigated by TDS, AES, LEED and UPS. The disproportionation of CO proceeds rapidly on the stepped surface and its apparent activation energy was obtained to be 20 kJ mol^?1 at nearly zero coverage. The carbon species produced by CO disproportionation show non-uniform reactivity with ¹⁸O₂ and provide four CO desorption peaks in TPR spectra, which are assigned to α-C¹⁸O,ß-C¹⁸O and those derived from carbidic and graphitic carbons. At smaller carbon coverage, only α-CO and β-CO were observed, but with increasing coverage the amount of ß-CO reaches a maximum and carbidic carbon is newly formed. Further increase of carbon deposition gives graphitic carbon. The conversion from carbidic to graphitic carbon and the dissolution into the bulk took place upon heating to 1000 K. It is remarkable that very active carbon species are converted to molecular CO through the reaction with O₂ even at low temperature such as 200 K. It was also confirmed that active carbon species are formed on Ru surface during COH₂ reaction.     

A new method for the synthesis of α-arylalkanoic acids by the use of 1,2-rearrangement of the aryl group

A simple synthetic method of α-arylalkanoic acids was accomplished by the use of a novel 1,2-rearrangement of the aryl group and this method was applied to the syntheses of some biologically important substances.     

Interlayer water molecules in vanadium pentoxide hydrate. 8. Dynamic properties by quasi-elastic neutron scattering

The dynamics of water molecules in the layered vanadium pentoxide hydrate, V(2)O(5).nH(2)O, were studied by quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) measurements. Heterogeneity of the dynamic properties was confirmed by alpha-relaxation model analysis. Translational diffusion of monolayer and double-layer water molecules is by site-to-site diffusion and is reduced relative to that of bulk water. Water molecules lose their mobility markedly and solidify with decreasing temperature. However, mobile water remains at 253 K. Rotational diffusion coefficients are unaffected by confinement and are very similar to the bulk values determined at temperatures in the range 253-298 K. The dynamic speed characterized by QENS is much faster than that expected from the data determined by deuterium NMR (DNMR) measurements at low temperatures.     

Synthesis of thromboxane A2 analogs—4 : (±)-Dithiathromboxane A2 sodium salt

The total synthesis of (±)-dithiathromboxane A₂ sodium salt 1 was accomplished in 26 steps from methyl 4,4-dimethoxyactoacetate.     

Synthesis of thromboxane A2 analogs—3 : (+)-Thiathromboxane A2

(+)-11a-methano-9,11-thiathiromboxane A₂(1) was synthesized from prostaglandin A₂ and prostaglandin E₂.