Spectral variations in background light emission of surface-enhanced resonance hyper Raman scattering coupled with plasma resonance of individual silver nanoaggregates

We demonstrate the origin of spectral variations in background light emission of surface enhanced resonance hyper Raman scattering (SERHRS) from single Ag nanoaggregates. Ag nanoaggregate-by-nanoaggregate variations in background light emission spectra are related to plasma (plasmon) resonance spectra. Temporal variations in background light emission spectra with temporal blueshifts in plasma resonance spectra are also observed under continuous laser excitation. Both types of the variations in background light emission are reproduced by multiplying background light emission spectra measured from a Ag microaggregate by Lorentz function spectra derived from plasma resonance spectra. The reproduction reveals that second electromagnetic (EM) enhancement by plasma resonance is the origin of the variations. Additionally, spectral variations in background light emission of SERHRS are similar to that of surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS). The similarity indicates that both types of background light emission commonly obtain second EM enhancement from identical plasma resonance.     

Asymmetric crystallization of bisguanidinobenzene derivatives

We show that the mono-N-methylated and -ethylated derivatives of the achiral compound bisguanidinobenzene undergo spontaneous asymmetric crystallization into a chiral form with chiral space group P2₁2₁2₁. The absolute configurations of the chiral crystals were determined by X-ray crystallography and correlated with circular dichroism (CD) spectra recorded in the solid state. The corresponding protonated and isopropylated derivatives, by contrast, afforded achiral crystals.     

Solid-phase extraction system for Pb (II) ions enrichment based on multiwall carbon nanotubes coupled on-line to flame atomic absorption spectrometry

The present paper proposes the application of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as a solid sorbent for lead preconcentration using a flow system coupled to flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The method comprises the preconcentration of Pb (II) ions at a buffered solution (pH 4.7) onto 30 mg of MWCNTs previously oxidized with concentrated HNO₃. The elution step is carried out with 1.0 mol L⁻¹ HNO₃. The effect of the experimental parameters, including sample pH, sampling flow rate, buffer and eluent concentrations were investigated by means of a 2⁴ full factorial design, while for the final optimization a Doehlert design was employed. Under the best experimental conditions the preconcentration system provided detection and quantification limits of 2.6 and 8.6 μg L⁻¹, respectively. A wide linear range varying from 8.6 up to 775 μg L⁻¹ (r > 0.999) and the respective precision (relative standard deviation) of 7.7 and 1.4% for the 15 and 200 μg L⁻¹ levels were obtained. The characteristics obtained for the performance of the flow preconcentration system were a preconcentration factor of 44.2, preconcentration efficiency of 11 min⁻¹, consumptive index of 0.45 mL and sampling frequency estimated as 14 h⁻¹. Preconcentration studies of Pb (II) ions in the presence of the majority foreign ions tested did not show interference, attesting the good performance of MWCNTs. The accuracy of the method was assessed from analysis of water samples (tap, mineral, physiological serum and synthetic seawater) and common medicinal herbs submitted to the acid decomposition (garlic and Ginkgo Biloba). The satisfactory recovery values obtained without using analyte addition method confirms the feasibility of this method for Pb (II) ions determination in different type of samples.     

Cross‐Coupling of Organolithium with Ethers or Aryl Ammonium Salts by C−O or C−N Bond Cleavage

Various aryl‐, alkenyl‐, and/or alkyllithium species reacted smoothly with aryl and/or benzyl ethers with cleavage of the inert C?O bond to afford cross‐coupled products, catalyzed by commercially available [Ni(cod)₂] (cod=1,5‐cyclooctadiene) catalysts with N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands. Furthermore, the coupling reaction between the aryllithium compounds and aryl ammonium salts proceeded under mild conditions with C?N bond cleavage in the presence of a [Pd(PPh₃)₂Cl₂] catalyst. These methods enable selective sequential functionalizations of arenes having both C?N and C?O bonds in one pot.     

Implementation of pi-pi interactions in molecular dynamics simulation

No explicit pi-pi interaction term has been incorporated in the conventional molecular dynamics (MD) simulation programs in spite of its significant role in the folding of biomolecules and the clustering of organic chemicals. In this article, we propose a technique to emphasize the effect of pi-pi interactions using a function of energy and implement it into an MD simulation program. Several trial calculations show that the pi-pi incorporated program gives improved results consistent with experimental data on atom geometry and has no unfavorable interference with the conventional computational framework. This indicates an importance of the explicit consideration of pi-pi interactions in MD simulation.     

Two-directional elaboration of hydroxyacetone under thermodynamically controlled conditions: allylation or 2-propynylation and aldol reaction

Enolate generated from O-(tetrahydropyran-2-yl)hydroxyacetone under thermodynamically controlled conditions (1.3 equiv of NaH, THF, 0 degrees C to rt) was allylated at the carbon bearing the protected hydroxy group with very high regioselectively. When tert-BuOH, equivalent to the excessive portion of initially added NaH, was introduced into the mixture followed by addition of aldehyde, aldol reaction took place on the methyl group to give 1-substituted 4-hydroxy-(1E),6-heptadien-3-one in acceptable yields after acidic treatment of the mixture for dehydration and deprotection. Introducing a chiral auxiliary protecting group into hydroxyacetone led to asymmetric allylation though stereoselectivity was around 50% ee. Thus, the hidden aspect of the chemoselective nature of protected hydroxyacetone-derived enolate generated under thermodynamically controlled conditions has opened a new avenue for two-directional elaboration of hydroxyacetone that should be potentially useful in organic synthesis.     

Change of concentrations of trace elements and protein contents in the liver of zinc deficient mice

The concentrations of essential trace elements and proteins in cytosolic fraction of hepatic cells of mice fed with Zn-deficient diet (Zn-def, mice) and control were determined by ICP-MS and BCA protein assay method, respectively, after division into forty fractions by gel filtration chromatography. The concentrations of zinc and proteins decreased in the 14–17th fractions of Zn-def, mice, whereas cobalt concentrations increased in the 14, 17, and 18th fractions. However, no significant differences were found on the gel after SDS-PAGE for the 12–21st fractions, although the BCA protein assay date showed the decrease of protein amounts in 13–15th fractions of Zn-def. mice.     

Protein adsorption characteristics of calcium hydroxyapatites modified with pyrophosphoric acids

Protein adsorption characteristics of calcium hydroxyapatite (Hap) modified with pyrophosphoric acids (PP(a)) were examined. The PP(a) modified Hap particles (abbreviated as PP-Hap) possessed anchored polyphosphate (PP: P-{O-PO(OH)}(n)-OH) branches on their surfaces. The proteins of bovine serum albumin (BSA: isoelectric point (iep)=4.7, molecular mass (M(s))=67,200 Da, acidic protein), myoglobin (MGB: iep=7.0, M(s)=17,800 Da, neutral protein), and lysozyme (LSZ: iep=11.1, M(s)=14,600 Da, basic protein) were examined. The zeta potential (zp) of PP-Hap particles as a function of pH overlapped; zp-pH curves were independent of the concentration of pyrophosphoric acids (abbreviated as [PP(a)]) used for modifying Hap surface. The saturated amounts of adsorbed BSA (Delta n(ads)(BSA)) were increased three-fold by the surface modification with PP(a) though they were independent of the [PP(a)]. Furthermore, the fraction of BSA desorption was independent of the [PP(a)]. This enhancement of BSA adsorption onto the PP-Hap is due to the hydrogen bonding between oxygen and OH groups of the PP-branches and functional groups of BSA molecules. In the case of LSZ, a more higher adsorption enhancement was observed; the saturated amount of adsorbed LSZ (Delta n(ads)(LSZ)) for Hap modified at [PP(a)]=6 mmol/dm(3) was nine-fold than that for Hap unmodified. This remarkable adsorption enhancement was explained by a three-dimensional binding mechanism; LSZ molecules were trapped inside of the PP-branches. Hence, a fraction of LSZ desorption was decreased with an increase in the [PP(a)]; as more PP-branches are presented on the surface the higher retardation of LSZ desorption was induced. It was expected from their small size that MGB adsorb between the PP-branches as well as LSZ. However, the amounts of adsorbed MGB (Delta n(ads)(MGB)) did not vary and were independent of the [PP(a)] due to the small numbers of functional groups of MGB. In addition, no dependence of the fraction of MGB desorption on the [PP(a)] was observed. The results of zp for all the protein systems supported the mode of protein adsorption discussed. The anchored structure of the PP-branches developed on the Hap surface to provide three-dimensional protein adsorption spaces was proved by a comparative experiment that was elucidating the effect of pyrophosphate ions for BSA adsorption onto Hap.     

Ring‐Opening Reactions of 3‐Aryl‐1‐benzylaziridine‐2‐carboxylates and Application to the Asymmetric Synthesis of an Amphetamine‐Type Compound

Nucleophilic ring‐opening reactions of 3‐aryl‐1‐benzylaziridine‐2‐carboxylates were examined by using O‐nucleophiles and aromatic C‐nucleophiles. The stereospecificity was found to depend on substrates and conditions used. Configuration inversion at C(3) was observed with O‐nucleophiles as a major reaction path in the ring‐opening reactions of aziridines carrying an electron‐poor aromatic moiety, whereas mixtures containing preferentially the syn‐diastereoisomer were generally obtained when electron‐rich aziridines were used (Tables 1–3). In the reactions of electron‐rich aziridines with C‐nucleophiles, S_N2 reactions yielding anti‐type products were observed (Table 4). Reductive ring‐opening reaction by catalytic hydrogenation of (+)‐trans‐(2S,3R)‐3‐(1,3‐benzodioxol‐5‐yl)aziridine‐2‐carboxylate (+)‐trans‐ 3c afforded the corresponding α‐amino acid derivative, which was smoothly transformed into (+)‐tert‐butyl [(1R)‐2‐(1,3‐benzodioxol‐5‐yl)‐1‐methylethyl]carbamate((+)‐ 14 ) with high retention of optical purity (Scheme 6).