Sacculatal and isosacculatal,two new exceptional diterpenedials from the liverwort, trichocoleopsis sacculata

The stereostructures of the two new exceptional diterpene dialdehydes from the liverwort, Trichocoleopsis sacculata: sacculatal (1), responsible for the characteristic pungent taste, and isosacculatal (2) have been determined by the spectral evidence and by comparison with polygodial (3), isopolygodial (4), and drimanediol (6) of known relative configurations.     

Ion association dynamics in aqueous solutions of sulfate salts as studied by Raman band shape analysis

A new perspective is shown on the interaction between the sulfate ion and its counter cation in aqueous solutions. We propose the dynamic exchange model of ion association instead of the conventional static equilibrium model. The concentration dependence of the Raman band shape of the totally symmetric (a(1)) SO stretch mode of the sulfate ion is investigated systematically for four sulfate ions, MgSO(4), (NH(4))(2)SO(4), K(2)SO(4), and Li(2)SO(4). The concentration dependence of the a(1) Raman band shape in the MgSO(4) system is successfully reproduced by the analysis based on the dynamic exchange model. As a result, quantitative information about the extremely dynamic nature of the ion association has been obtained: the mean time between associations is a few picoseconds and the mean lifetime of association is several hundred femtoseconds.     

Visible nonlinear band-edge luminescence in ZnSe and CdS excited by a mid-infrared free-electron laser

Visible nonlinear band-edge luminescence in ZnSe and CdS bulk crystals was observed upon excitation by a mid-infrared free-electron laser (mid-IR FEL) at approximately 9 mm. The emission intensity is proportional to the 74th and 45th powers of the excitation intensity for ZnSe and CdS, respectively. For ZnSe, the temporal profile of the emission intensity does not follow the profile of the excitation macropulse of the FEL, but sharply rises and decays only at the maximum of the macropulse profile. These features are in marked contrast to those of a previous report, where the emission profile follows that of the macropulse, and the emission intensity scales with the 4th power of the excitation intensity. The experimental observations were reproduced by a numerical simulation based on impact ionization and avalanche ionization by electrons accelerated by the optical electric field of the FEL. The large nonlinearity in the bandedge emission comes from the macropulse temporal structure, which consists of micropulses densely spaced to allow excited carriers to survive when the next micropulse arrives. They work as seed carriers in the next carrier multiplication step.     

The first total synthesis of (-) and (+)-2-hydroxy-24-oxooctacosanolide using an effective lactonization

[structure: see text] An effective method for the total synthesis of 2-hydroxy-24-oxooctacosanolide, a defensive salivary secretion of the African termite Pseudacanthotermes spiniger, has been developed. The key lactonization to form a 29-membered ring lactone core is performed using 2-methyl-6-nitrobenzoic anhydride with a catalytic amount of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine N-oxide.     

Ecosystems perspective on financial networks: Diagnostic tools

The world economy consists of highly interconnected and interdependent commercial and financial networks. Here, we develop temporal and structural network tools to analyze the state of the economy and the financial markets. Our analysis indicates that a strong clustering can be a warning sign. Reduction in diversity, which was an essential aspect of the dynamics surrounding the financial markets crisis of 2008, is seen as a key emergent feature arising naturally from the evolutionary and adaptive dynamics inherent to the financial markets. Similarly, collusion amongst construction firms in a number of regions in Japan in the 2000s can be identified with the formation of clusters of anomalous highly connected companies. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 19: 22–36, 2013     

Incident-energy dependence of crystalline structures of ion beam deposited Au thin films

The energy dependence of crystalline structures in Au thin-film deposition processes was investigated with the use of a low-energy mass-selected ion beam system. Au films deposited on Si(100) untreated wafer surfaces by the beam system at different ion energies in the range of 20–200?eV were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). The XRD results show that the kinetic energy provided by ion bombardment can facilitate crystal growth with specific orientations such as (100) or (110), the surfaces of which have relatively high surface energies. Our observations also suggest that each crystalline orientation appears only in a specific energy range of ion bombardment. These results indicate that Au crystalline orientations may be controlled by the ion irradiation energy during deposition processes.     

Development of high resolution resonance ionization mass spectrometry for trace analysis of 93mNb

⁹³Nb(n, n′)^93mNb reaction allows retrospective estimation of integrated fast neutron dose in nuclear reactor. We proposed isomer-selective trace analysis of ^93mNb by Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS) combined with a gas-jet atomic source and an injection locked Ti:Sapphire laser system operated at several kHz. Resonant ionization spectroscopy of Nb in gas-jet using Ti:Sapphire laser was demonstrated.