Discovery of Hexagonal Structured Pd–B Nanocrystals

We report on hexagonal close-packed (hcp) palladium (Pd)–boron (B) nanocrystals (NCs) by heavy B doping into face-centered cubic (fcc) Pd NCs. Scanning transmission electron microscopy–electron energy loss spectroscopy and synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction measurements demonstrated that the B atoms are homogeneously distributed inside the hcp Pd lattice. The large paramagnetic susceptibility of Pd is significantly suppressed in Pd–B NCs in good agreement with the reduction of density of states at Fermi energy suggested by X-ray absorption near-edge structure and theoretical calculations.     

Electrochemical detection of endotoxin using recombinant factor C zymogen

We have developed a zymogen-based electrochemical sensor. Zymogen is an inactive enzyme precursor (proenzyme) and it is necessary to transform it biochemically (e.g., by hydrolysis and conformational change) to make it an active enzyme. In this study, we demonstrated the detection of endotoxin by using recombinant Factor C (rFC), which is a protease zymogen activated by endotoxin binding. The activated rFC hydrolyzes a synthetic substrate of Boc-Val-Pro-Arg-p-nitroanilnide to generate an electrochemical active compound, p-nitroaniline (pNA). The liberated pNA was detected by differential pulse voltammetry at –0.75 V. By using this electrochemical process, 5000 endotoxin units (EU) L^?1 and 1000 EU L^?1 were detected in a Tris-Ac buffer with a pH of 7.5 at 37 °C for reaction times of 1 h and 3 h, respectively. The concept of zymogen-based electrochemical sensors is expected to lead to the development of new biosensors.     

Highly selective photoinduced perfluoroalkylation of vinylsilanes and its application to synthesis of water-shedding polysilanes

The functionalization of polysilanes is an important subject in materials science because functionalized polysilanes are expected to exhibit potentially innovative properties. This research aims at the addition of a water-shedding property to polysilanes by introducing perfluoroalkyl groups into their skeleton. The photoinduced iodoperfluoroalkylation of various vinylsilanes takes place successfully upon irradiation with a xenon lamp: vinylmonosilanes undergo iodoperfluoroalkylation with perfluoroalkyl iodides (R_fI) regioselectively, and the corresponding perfluoroalkylated silanes are obtained in moderate to high yields. Detailed optimization of the photoinduced iodoperfluoroalkylation has been investigated to apply this method to the functionalization of polysilanes. Polysilanes having vinyl groups can be synthesized by the reductive coupling of dichlorovinylsilanes with samarium diiodide (SmI₂) and samarium metal (Sm) upon irradiation with visible light. The synthesized vinylpolysilanes and R_fI (about 1.0 mM CHCl₃ solution) are coated on a glass plate sequentially, and then the following photoirradiation with light of a wavelength over 300 nm successfully adds an excellent water-shedding property to the glass plate.     

Possible Involvement of a Tetrahydrobiopterin in Photoreception for UV‐B‐induced Anthocyanin Synthesis in Carrot

Our previous studies of action spectra for UV‐B‐induced anthocyanin accumulation in cultured carrot cells indicated that a reduced form of pterin, possibly tetrahydrobiopterin, contributes to UV‐B photoreception. In this report, we provide additional evidence for the involvement of pterin in UV‐B light sensing. UV‐B‐induced phenylalanine ammonia‐lyase (PAL) activity was considerably suppressed by N‐acetylserotonin (an inhibitor of tetrahydrobiopterin biosynthesis), and this suppression was partially recovered by adding biopterin or tetrahydrobiobiopterin. In addition, protein(s) specifically bound to biopterin were detected by radiolabeling experiments in N‐acetylserotonin‐treated cells. Furthermore, diphenyleneiodonium, a potent inhibitor of electron transfer, completely suppressed UV‐B‐induced PAL activity. These results suggest the occurrence of an unidentified UV‐B photoreceptor (other than UVR8, the tryptophan‐based UV‐B sensor originally identified in Arabidopsis) with reduced pterin in carrot cells. After reexamining published action spectra, we suggest that anthocyanin synthesis is coordinately regulated by these two UV‐B sensors.     

Addressable electrode array device with IDA electrodes for high-throughput detection

An electrochemical device is proposed for high-throughput electrochemical detection that consists of 32 row and 32 column electrodes on a single glass substrate. The row and column electrodes are connected to interdigitated array (IDA) electrodes to form 1024 (32 × 32) addressable sensor points in the device. Electrochemical responses from each of the 1024 sensors were successfully acquired on the device within 1 min using redox cycling at individual IDA electrodes, which ensures application of the device to comprehensive, high-throughput electrochemical detection for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), reporter gene assay for monitoring gene expressions, and DNA analysis.