Stereoselective synthesis of trans olefins by the reaction of Wittig reagents with selenium. Formation of selenocarbonyl compounds.

Wittig reagents were successfully changed to symmetrical olefins when treated with elemental selenium. The reaction proceeds through a selenocarbonyl intermediate, which existence was confirmed by Diels-Alder reaction.     

Estimating the covariance matrix and the generalized variance under a symmetric loss

For estimating the power of a generalized variance under a multivariate normal distribution with unknown means, the inadmissibility of the best affine equivariant estimator relative to the symmetric loss is shown, and a class of improved estimators is given. The problem of estimating the covariance matrix is also discussed.     

Synthesis of a secretoglobin 3A2 type C (98–139) fragment by Dawson’s native chemical ligation

A secretoglobin 3A2 type C (98–139) peptide was synthesized by native chemical ligation between ¹¹⁵Ile and ¹¹⁶Cys residues using Dawson’s linker. The peptide-N-acyl-benzimidazolinone-glycine amide, a C-terminal thioesters precursor, was provided from 3-amino-4-(methylamino)benzoic acid. In addition, an N-terminal cysteine fragment, the (116–139) peptide, was prepared by ordinary Fmoc-solid phase peptide synthesis. Native chemical ligation of the (98–115) fragment with the Dawson’s linker and the (116–139) peptide smoothly proceeded to give SCGB3A2 type C (98–139) peptide.     

Electrophilic glycosidation employing 3,5-O-(di-tert-butylsilylene)-erythro-furanoid glycal leads to exclusive formation of the β-anomer: synthesis of 2′-deoxynucleosides and its 1′-branched analogues

Stereoselectivity in N-iodosuccimide (NIS)-mediated electrophilic glycosidation was examined by employing 2,4-bis-O-(trimethylsilyl)thymine and three different silyl-protected erythro-furanoid glycals 12, 16, and 18. As a result, it was found that 3,5-O-(di-t-butylsilylene)-protected 18 gave only the β-anomer (21). The remarkable stereoselectivity observed by employing 18 is discussed on the basis of its X-ray crystallographic analysis. 1-Substituted glycals gave the corresponding β-anomer, again exclusively, to provide access to 1′-branched 2′-deoxynucleosides.     

White light emission of Mn-doped SnO-ZnO-P2O5 glass containing no rare earth cation

The authors have demonstrated white light emission of rare earth (RE)-free Mn-doped SnO-ZnO-P(2)O(5) glass. The RE-free glass shows white light emission with a high value of quantum efficiency (QE) comparable to conventional crystalline phosphor. It is notable that the high QE value is attained for RE-free transparent glass, and the broad emission can be continuously tuned by both the amount of activator and the composition of the glass. Since this glass possesses low-melting property, we emphasize that the glass phosphor will lead to the development of a novel inorganic white-light-emitting device in combination with a solid state UV light-emitting source.     

A parametric successive underestimation method for convex multiplicative programming problems

This paper addresses itself to the algorithm for minimizing the product of two nonnegative convex functions over a convex set. It is shown that the global minimum of this nonconvex problem can be obtained by solving a sequence of convex programming problems. The basic idea of this algorithm is to embed the original problem into a problem in a higher dimensional space and to apply a branch-and-bound algorithm using an underestimating function. Computational results indicate that our algorithm is efficient when the objective function is the product of a linear and a quadratic functions and the constraints are linear. An extension of our algorithm for minimizing the sum of a convex function and a product of two convex functions is also discussed.     

Laser-induced fluorescence and infrared spectroscopic studies on the specific solvation of tris(1-(2-thienyl)-4,4,4-trifluoro-1,3-butanedionato)europium(III) in an ionic liquid

The extraction constant and the two-phase stability constant (K_D,Mβ₃) of tris(2-thenoyltrifluoroacetonato)europium(III) between 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ([C₄mim][Tf₂N]) as an ionic liquid and an aqueous phase were determined by considering the extraction equilibria including anionic tetrakis(2-thenoyltrifluoroacetonato)europate(III). Specific solute-solvent interactions between the neutral Eu(III) chelate and [C₄mim][Tf₂N] molecules were revealed from the relationships between the distribution constant of the enol form of 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (Htta) as a proton chelate and the distribution constant (K_D,M) of the neutral Eu(III) chelate because the [C₄mim][Tf₂N] system gave the high K_D,Mβ₃ value compared with those in conventional molecular solvents such as benzene and 1,2-dichloroethane. The coordination environment of Eu³⁺ in the neutral Eu(III) chelate in [C₄mim][Tf₂N] was investigated by time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy and infrared absorption spectroscopy. Both methods consistently indicated that not only the Eu(III) chelate extracted but also Eu(tta)₃(H₂O)₃ synthesized as a solid crystal were almost completely dehydrated in [C₄mim][Tf₂N] saturated with water. Consequently, the higher K_D,M or extractability of the neutral Eu(III) chelate in the [C₄mim][Tf₂N] system can be ascribed to the dehydration of the Eu(III) chelate, which is caused by the specific solvation with [C₄mim][Tf₂N] molecules.     

Survival Probabilities for Discrete-Time Models in One Dimension

We consider survival probabilities for the discrete-time process in one dimension, which is known as the Domany–Kinzel model. A convergence theorem for infinite systems can be obtained in the nonattractive case.