Kinetic studies of CO2dissociation on supported Ni catalysts

Summary In order to investigate the kinetics of CO₂dissociation on supported nickel catalysts, a novel technique, which can give the surface reaction rate constants with no information on the number of active sites, was developed. It was revealed that CO₂dissociation was more enhanced on TiO₂support than on other metal oxide ones. The activity pattern and activation energies were in good agreement with those obtained by a conventional pulse technique using the number of active sites, suggesting the validity of the present technique for investigating the kinetics of the surface reaction.</o:p>     

Reductive coupling of N-methoxycarbonyl lactams with benzophenone and 9-fluorenone by low-valent titanium

The reductive coupling of N-methoxycarbonyl lactams with benzophenone by Zn-TiCl₄ in THF gave cross-coupled products as cyclic α-diphenylidene-N-methoxycarbonylamines and ring-opening α,α-diphenyl-α-hydroxy-ω-(N-methoxycarbonyl)amino ketones selectively depending on the reduction conditions. The reductive coupling of N-methoxycarbonyl lactams with 9-fluorenone by Zn-TiCl₄ gave cyclic α-(9H-fluoren-9-ylidene)-N-methoxycarbonylamines preferentially irrespective to the conditions.     

Determination of kynurenic acid levels in rat brain microdialysis samples and changes in kynurenic acid levels induced by N‐acetylaspartic acid

The levels of kynurenic acid, an endogenous antagonist of α₇ nicotinic acetylcholine and N‐methyl‐D ‐aspartate receptors, were measured in microdialysis samples obtained from the prefrontal cortices of rats using column‐switching high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. When the perfusate was constantly infused at a rate of 1.0 μ/min, the in vitro recovery of kynurenic acid through the dialysis membrane was approximately 20.4%, and the precision was within 1.31%. Endogenous kynurenic acid in the microdialysis sample was clearly detected using column‐switching high‐performance liquid chromatography. As an application study, N‐acetyl‐L ‐aspartic acid, an endogenous metabolite and precursor of N‐acetyl‐L ‐aspartyl‐L ‐glutamic acid, which is an agonist of metabotropic glutamate receptors, was infused for 120 min through the microdialysis probe. The kynurenic acid level significantly increased during the infusion of N‐acetyl‐L ‐aspartic acid, suggesting that kynurenic acid might have some association with N‐acetyl‐L ‐aspartic acid in vivo. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stabilization of enhanced chirality from pyrene-containing l-glutamide lipid in methyl methacrylate by photo-induced polymerization

Enhanced CD spectra based on chirally-oriented structures of pyrene-containing L-glutamic acid-derived lipid were observed in polymerizable monomers and CD strength was maintained after photo-induced polymerization of the monomer solvents.     

NMR and MO Studies on the Molecular Structure of a Fluoranthene-Benzene Complex

Fluoranthene (FA) forms a 1:1 van der Waals complex with benzene in cyclohexane. The ¹H NMR spectrum of this complex shows that the FA moiety in the complex state has five kinds of hydrogen atoms and that the ¹H NMR peaks assigned to the protons attached to the naphthalene skeleton are largely shifted to higher magnetic field on complex formation with benzene. These observations indicate that the complex takes the structure of C_S symmetry, in which the benzene molecule mainly interacts with the electronic system localized on the naphthalene moiety of FA. The present ab initio calculations reproduce well the ¹H NMR spectral shifts mentioned above and the experimentally predicted C_S structure of the complex. According to the PPP calculations for the electronic absorption spectral changes on the complex formation, the FA-benzene complex is considered to take a sandwich type structure.     

Laser terahertz-emission microscope for inspecting electrical faults in integrated circuits

A laser terahertz-emission microscope (LTEM) system is proposed and developed for inspecting electrical faults in integrated circuits (IC). We test a commercial operational amplifier while the system is operating. Two-dimensional terahertz-emission images of the IC chip are clearly observed while the chip is scanned with a femtosecond laser. When one of the interconnection lines is cut, the damaged chip has a LTEM image different from that of normal chips. The results indicate that the LTEM system is a potential tool for IC inspection.