Photoinduced Specific Acylation of Phenolic Hydroxy Groups with Aldehydes

A convenient method is reported to specifically acylate phenolic hydroxyl groups through a radical pathway. When a mixture of an aldehyde and a phenol in ethyl acetate is irradiated with blue light in the presence of iridium and nickel bromide catalysts at ambient temperature, phenoxyl and acyl radicals are transiently generated in situ and cross‐couple to furnish an ester. Aliphatic hydroxy groups remain untouched under the reaction conditions.     

Thermodynamically Induced Conformational Changes of the Cyanobacterial Circadian Clock Protein KaiB

Site-directed spin labeling electron spin resonance (ESR) was applied to investigate the local environment of the cyanobacterial circadian clock protein KaiB. We prepared five cysteine residue-substituted mutants of KaiB labeled with maleimide spin label (MSL). By comparing the ESR spectra of KaiBs carrying MSL at different positions (Thr64, Lys67, Tyr94, Gly98, and Ala101), local conformational changes were identified. The ESR spectra of MSL-T64C and MSL-K67C showed the relatively slow motion of MSL characterized by τ?=?79 and 59?ns at 4°C, respectively. The spectra of MSL-Y94C, MSL-G98C and MSL-A101C showed relatively fast motion characterized by τ?=?8.0, 4.1 and 3.1?ns at 4°C, respectively. These differences were explained by the local environments of the position in KaiB. On incubation at 40°C for 24?h, all ESR spectra of the labeled KaiBs changed, which can be explained by the structural relaxation of KaiB.     

Hyperfine structure of the electron spin resonance of phosphorus-doped Si nanocrystals

Electronic states of P donors in Si nanocrystals (nc-Si) embedded in insulating glass matrices have been studied by electron spin resonance. Doping of P donors into nc-Si was demonstrated by the observation of optical absorption in the infrared region due to intraconduction band transitions. P hyperfine structure (hfs) was successfully observed at low temperatures. The observed splitting of the hfs was found to be much larger than that of the bulk Si:P and depended strongly on the size of nc-Si. The observed strong size dependence indicates that the enhancement of the hyperfine splitting is caused by the quantum confinement of P donors in nc-Si.     

Theory of ferromagnetism in Ca(1-x)La(x)B(6)

Novel ferromagnetism in Ca(1-x)La(x)B(6) is studied in terms of the Ginzburg-Landau theory for excitonic-order parameters, taking into account symmetry of the wave functions. We found that the minima of the free energy break both inversion and time-reversal symmetries, while the product of these two remains preserved. This explains various novelties of the ferromagnetism and predicts a number of magnetic properties, including the magnetoelectric effect, which can be tested experimentally.     

Holographic reconstruction with a 10- mum pixel-pitch reflective liquid-crystal display by use of a light-emitting diode reference light

We reconstructed an animation made from computer-generated holograms with a reflective LCD panel that had a pixel pitch of 10 mumx10 mum and resolution of 1400x1050 . Using a LED as the reference light, we could clearly observe three-dimensional images whose size was approximately 30 mmx10 mm x30 mm . Moreover, we reconstructed a color holograph by use of a simple system with a set of red, green, and blue LEDs as the reference light.     

Representation of the category of tangles by Kontsevich's iterated integral

Applying Kontsevich's iterated integral for tangles, we get an isotopy invariant of tangles. We give a method to compute the integral of a tangle combinatorially from modified integrals of some simple tangles. We localize the integral by moving the end points of the tangle to an extreme configuration, and modify the integral so that it is convergent. By using a similar technique, we generalize Kontsevich's invariant to a framed tangle.