Controllable Electronic Structures and Photoinduced Processes of Bay‐Linked Perylenediimide Dimers and a Ferrocene‐Linked Triad

A series of perylene‐3,4,9,10‐bis(dicarboximide) (PDI) dimers linked through the bay regions was systematically synthesized to examine the electronic structures and photophysical properties in dependence on the distance and orientation between the two PDI units. The spectroscopic and electrochemical measurements suggested that the coupling value of a directly linked PDI dimer (PDI)₂ is much larger than those of para‐ and meta‐phenylene‐bridged PDI dimers p‐(PDI)₂ and m‐(PDI)₂. The width of Davydov splitting was quantitatively evaluated to compare the coupling values between the two PDI units in these dimers by absorption spectroscopy in frozen 2‐methyl‐THF. Excimer formation of PDI dimers induced the strong fluorescence quenching and large red‐shifts. Femtosecond transient absorption revealed a broad absorption derived from an excimer in the range from about 600 nm to the near‐IR region. The rate constants of formation and decay of the excimer are strongly dependent on the coupling values. Time‐resolved measurements on ferrocene‐linked p‐(PDI)₂ revealed a competition between the photoinduced processes of electron transfer and excimer formation in PhCN, which is in sharp contrast with the sole electron‐transfer process in toluene.     

Raman spectroscopic study of carbon substitution in MgB2

We study the effect of carbon doping on the Raman spectrum of the MgB₂ superconductor. Out data show that significant changes in the Raman spectra of the MgB_2−xC_x compounds occur for carbon concentrations x>0.04. The E_2g mode at ∼580 cm⁻¹ hardens only moderately upon increased doping despite direct carbon substitution in the boron layers, while the dependence of its full width at half maximum (FWHM) on x reveals the competing effects of reduced electron-phonon coupling and increased disorder. The results are discussed in the framework of anisotropic lattice contraction and the position of the σ sub-bands with respect to the Fermi energy level. The relative intensity of the phonon peak at ∼770 cm⁻¹, associated with a peak in the phonon density of states, increases considerably and dominates for x=0.08. Additionally, it hardens and broadens with increasing x in the range 0.04-0.08. These changes can be associated with carbon substitution-induced disorder in the investigated samples.     

Photoconductivity of presolvated electrons in ethanol glass at 4 K

Photoconductivity of localized electrons, which are not solvated, in γ-irradiated ethanol glass at 4 K was studied. Photocurrents of 10^?13 A or larger were stably detected in the wavelength range of 900–2200 nm. The wavelength dependence of the photocurrent reveals that pre-solvated electrons probably have no bound excited states.     

Capillary electrophoretic separation between Fe(II) and Ni(II) precomplexed with 1,10-phenanthroline in a high concentration buffer of n-butyric acid/ n-butyrate and its application

The capillary electrophoretic separation was accomplished for Fe(II) and Ni(II) precomplexed with 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) in 2 M n-butyric acid/ n-butyrate buffer at pH 4.5 with direct UV detection at 260 nm. The applied voltage was 5 kV. The high concentration buffer of the n-butyrate resulted in a similar separation mechanism to that of ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The separation would be due to the hydrophobic interaction between the ionic associates, [Fe(phen)(3)]( n-butyrate)(+) and [Ni(phen)(3)]( n-butyrate)(+), with the n-butyrate ion and n-butyric acid as background electrolyte. Linear calibration ranges were obtained for Fe(II) and Ni(II) from 100 to 500 ng ml(-1). The relative standard deviations ( n=10) for 3 g mL(-1) Fe(II) and Ni(II) were 0.090 and 0.086, respectively. Detection limits ( S/ N=3) for Fe(II) and Ni(II) were 20 ng mL(-1). The method was applied to the determination of nickel in aluminium and duralumin alloys.     

Systematic Control of the Excited‐State Dynamics and Carrier‐Transport Properties of Functionalized Benzo[ghi]perylene and Coronene Derivatives

A series of benzo[ghi]perylene (Bp) and coronene (Cor) derivatives substituted with electron‐withdrawing methoxycarbonyl (COOMe) or electron‐donating methoxyl (MeO) groups was synthesized. The electrochemical, spectroscopic, and photophysical properties of these compounds were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, steady‐state and time‐resolved spectroscopy, and quantum‐yield measurements. Introduction of suitable substituents onto the aromatic rings enabled control of electrochemical and spectroscopic behavior. Examination of excited‐state dynamics revealed that fluorescence quantum yields increased with increasing number of COOMe groups in both Bp and Cor derivatives, consistent with the findings of DFT calculations. Single‐crystal analysis allowed the performance of field‐effect transistors containing single crystals of the derivatives to be rationalized.     

Dialkylphosphatidylcholine and egg yolk lecithin for emulsification of various triglycerides

Synthesized saturated phosphatidylcholine (PC) and egg yolk lecithin (EYL) were investigated to explore their influence on particle sizes in emulsions when dispersing various triglycerides (TG). One of four different kinds of synthesized saturated PC (DLPC, DMPC, DPPC and DSPC) or three different kinds of EYL (purified EYL (PEL) and hydrogenated purified EYL with two different iodine values (IV), R-20 and R-5), 2.5% (w/w) glycerol solution and one of four kinds of TG (tricaprylin, tricaprin, trilaurin and trimyristin) were sonicated five times for 1 min with intervals of 0.5 min. When using four kinds of synthesized saturated PCs as emulsifiers, the carbon numbers of each PC had a strong correlation with the mean diameters of the emulsion when analyzed with each of the four kinds of TG used in the study (regression function ranged from 0.811 to 0.915). The carbon numbers of the TG had less correlation with the mean diameters than the PC in simple regression analysis (regression function ranged from 0.236 to 0.875). Multiple regression analysis using the carbon numbers both of the PC and TG as independent variables was remarkably significant in the regression function (2.0 × 10⁻¹⁴) and all regression coefficients (2.7 × 10⁻¹³, 5.8 × 10⁻⁷ and 1.9 × 10⁻⁹ for PC, TG and intercept, respectively). Among the regression coefficients, the contribution of the carbon number of the PC was the most significant. These results indicated that a multiple regression function should be useful to estimate the mean diameters of emulsion droplets in any combinations of PC and TG used in this study.

In the experiments using three kinds of EYL, the mean diameters also tended to increase according to the order of PEL, R-20 and R-5, which corresponds to the order of degrees of saturation (IV = 75, 20 and 2, respectively). The experimental values for EYL were compared with the estimated values calculated by the multiple regression function derived from synthesized PC data using the arithmetic carbon number, based on the components of each EYL. The estimated mean diameters were at comparable levels to the corresponding experimental mean diameters in the most saturated hydrogenated lecithin (R-5), while those were larger than the experimental mean diameters in two less saturated kinds of lecithin (R-20 and purified EYL). These findings gave useful information on the mean diameters of emulsion droplets when designing an emulsion formulation using a particular combination of a phospholipid and triglyceride.     

Large optical nonlinearity of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes under resonant excitations

We measured third-order nonlinear susceptibility (chi(3)) spectra in semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by the Z-scan method. |Imchi(3)| is remarkably enhanced under resonant excitation to the lowest interband transition, reaching 4.2 x 10(-6) esu and 1.5 x 10(-7) esu in SWNTs grown by the laser ablation and HiPco methods, respectively. A comparison of the transient absorption changes evaluated by degenerate and nondegenerate pump-probe measurements suggests that the resonant enhancement of |Imchi(3)| is dominated by a coherent process rather than by saturation of absorption.     

In-crystal and surface charge transport of electric-field-induced carriers in organic single-crystal semiconductors

Gate-voltage dependence of carrier mobility is measured in high-performance field-effect transistors of rubrene single crystals by simultaneous detection of the longitudinal conductivity sigma(square) and Hall coefficient R(H). The Hall mobility mu(H) (identical with sigma(square)R(H)) reaches nearly 10 cm(2)/V s when relatively low-density carriers (<10(11) cm(-2)) distribute into the crystal. mu(H) rapidly decreases with higher-density carriers as they are essentially confined to the surface and are subjected to randomness of the amorphous gate insulators. The mechanism to realize high carrier mobility in the organic transistor devices involves intrinsic-semiconductor character of the high-purity organic crystals and diffusive bandlike carrier transport in the bulk.     

Supercontinuum generation in short tellurite microstructured fibers pumped by a quasi-cw laser

We investigate supercontinuum (SC) generation in highly nonlinear tellurite microstructured fibers pumped by a continuous wave (cw)/quasi-cw laser. We investigate two types of tellurite fibers. One type has the constant core diameter, and the other type has a longitudinally varying core diameter. For the fibers with a constant core diameter, when pumped in the anomalous dispersion region, the SC is symmetric in a fiber that has a zero dispersion wavelength close to the pump wavelength. For the fibers with a longitudinally varying diameter, the calculated phase-matching conditions show that they have a broad wavelength range of dispersive waves, and therefore the measured SC spectrum can be broader than one octave. In this work, the fiber lengths are as short as several tens of centimeters, and the pump power is in the watt level.