Oxoaminium salts as initiators for cationic polymerization of vinyl monomers

Oxoaminium salt ( 1 ), derived from 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO, 2 ) by one-electron oxidation, could be an initiator for cationic polymerization of vinyl monomers such as isobutyl vinyl ether (IBVE), 2,3-dihydrofuran, p-methoxystyrene, N-vinyl pyrrolidone, etc., to give the corresponding polymers, when 1 had a low nucleophilic counter anion. Formation of the adducts of 1 and IBVE as well as ¹H-NMR and IR data suggested the formation of polymers containing N? O? C structure as the polymer head group. In the polymerization of IBVE, the effects of solvent and concentration of 1 were little observed, however the polymerization rate was dependent on temperature. Furthermore, the thermal reaction of the polymers obtained, which were regarded as prepolymers for block copolymerization and polymeric initiators for radical polymerization, was studied. For example, poly(2-benzylidene-1,3-dioxane) obtained by the polymerization of 2-benzylidene-1,3-dioxane with oxoaminium hexafluoroantimonate ( 1, X = SbF₆) was employed as an initiator for radical polymerization of MMA to give its block copolymer with PMMA. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Synthesis and photoinduced electron transfer processes of rotaxanes bearing [60]fullerene and zinc porphyrin: effects of interlocked structure and length of axle with porphyrins

Three rotaxanes, with axles with two zinc porphyrins (ZnPs) at both ends penetrating into a necklace pending a C60 moiety, were synthesized with varying interlocked structures and axle lengths. The intra-rotaxane photoinduced electron transfer processes between the spatially positioned C60 and ZnP in rotaxanes were investigated. Charge-separated (CS) states (ZnP*+, C60*-)rotaxane are formed via the excited singlet state of ZnP (1ZnP*) to the C60 moiety in solvents such as benzonitrile, THF, and toluene. The rate constants and quantum yields of charge separation via 1ZnP decrease with axle length, but they are insensitive to solvent polarity. When the axle becomes long, charge separation takes place via the excited triplet state of ZnP (3ZnP*). The lifetime of the CS state increases with axle length from 180 to 650 ns at room temperature. The small activation energies of charge recombination were evaluated by temperature dependence of electron-transfer rate constants, probably reflecting through-space electron transfer in the rotaxane structures.     

Refining Cosmetatos' Approximation for the Mean Waiting Time in the M/D/s Queue

This paper deals with refining Cosmetatos's approximation for the mean waiting time in an M/D/s queue. Although his approximation performs quite well in heavy traffic, it overestimates the true value when the number of servers is large or the traffic is light. We first focus on a normalized quantity that is a ratio of the mean waiting times for the M/D/s and M/M/s queues. Using some asymptotic properties of the quantity, we modify Cosmetatos's approximation to obtain better accuracy both for large s and in light traffic. To see the quality of our approximation, we compare it with the exact value and some previous approximations. Extensive numerical tests indicate that the relative percentage error is less than 1% for almost all cases with s ≤ 20 and at most 5% for other cases.     

Approximating the Mean Waiting Time in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">GI/G/s</Emphasis> Queue

We provide two distribution-dependent approximations for the mean waiting time in a GI/G/s queue. Both approximations are weighted combinations of the exact mean waiting times for the GI/M/s and M/D/s queues each of which has the same mean service time and traffic intensity as in the approximating GI/G/s queue. The weights in the approximations are expressed by the service-time c.d.f. and the first two moments of interarrival and service times. To examine the performance of our approximations, they are numerically compared with exact solutions and previous two-moment approximations for various cases. Extensive numerical comparisons indicate that the relative percentage errors of the approximations are of the order of 5% in moderate traffic and 1% in heavy traffic, except for extreme cases.     

Cooperative motions of protein and hydration water molecules: molecular dynamics study of scytalone dehydratase

Two molecular dynamics (MD) simulations totaling 25 ns of simulation time of monomeric scytalone dehydratase (SD) were performed. The enzyme has a ligand-binding pocket containing a cone-shaped alpha+beta barrel, and the C-terminal region covers the binding pocket. Our simulations clarified the difference in protein dynamics and conformation between the liganded protein and the unliganded protein. The liganded protein held the ligand molecule tightly and the initial structure was maintained during the simulation. The unliganded protein, on the other hand, fluctuated dynamically and its structure changed largely from the initial structure. In the equilibrium state, the binding pocket was fully solvated by opening of the C-terminal region, and the protein dynamics was connected with hydration water molecules entry into and release from the binding pocket. In addition, the cooperative motions of the unliganded protein and the hydration water molecules produced the path through the protein interior for ligand binding.     

Spectrophotometric determination of zirconium, uranium, thorium and rare earths with arsenazo III after extractions with thenoyltrifluoroacetone and tri-n-octylamine

A method is described for the spectrophotometric determination of microgram amounts of zirconium, uranium(VI), thorium and rare earths with Arsenazo III after systematic separation by extraction. First zirconium is extracted into a xylene solution of thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA) from about 4M hydrochloric acid. Uranium(VI) is then extracted into a xylene solution of tri-n-octy lamine from about 4M hydrochloric acid. Thorium is next extracted into TTA solution at pH about 1.5, and finally rare earths are extracted into TTA solution at pH about 4.7. Each metal is back-extracted from the organic phase before determination.     

Mass spectrometric studies on gibberellins

Based on the element maps of twenty-two gibberellin methyl esters fragmentations are discussed, which are characteristic of the common structural features as well as structural modification in gibberellin homologues.     

Fast oxygen ion migration in Cu–In–oxide bulk and its utilization for effective CO2 conversion at lower temperature

Efficient activation of CO₂ at low temperature was achieved by reverse water–gas shift via chemical looping (RWGS-CL) by virtue of fast oxygen ion migration in a Cu–In structured oxide, even at lower temperatures. Results show that a novel Cu–In₂O₃ structured oxide can show a remarkably higher CO₂ splitting rate than ever reported. Various analyses revealed that RWGS-CL on Cu–In₂O₃ is derived from redox between Cu–In₂O₃ and Cu–In alloy. Key factors for high CO₂ splitting rate were fast migration of oxide ions in the alloy and the preferential oxidation of the interface of alloy–In₂O₃ in the bulk of the particles. The findings reported herein can open up new avenues to achieve effective CO₂ conversion at lower temperatures.

Efficient activation of CO₂ at low temperature was achieved by reverse water–gas shift via chemical looping (RWGS-CL) by virtue of fast oxygen ion migration in a Cu–In structured oxide, even at lower temperatures.     

Synthesis of 4-thiouridine, 6-thioinosine, and 6-thioguanosine 3',5'-O-bisphosphates as donor molecules for RNA ligation and their application to the synthesis of photoactivatable TMG-capped U1 snRNA fragments

4-Thiouridine, 6-thioguanosine, and 6-thioinosine 3',5'-bisphosphates (9, 20, and 28) were synthesized in good yields by considerably improved methods. In the former two compounds, uridine and 2-N-phenylacetylguanosine were converted via transient O-trimethylsilylation to the corresponding 4- and 6-O-benzenesulfonyl intermediates (2 and 13), which, in turn, were allowed to react with 2-cyanoethanethiol in the presence of N-methylpyrrolidine to give 4-thiouridine (3) and 2-N-phenylacetyl-6-thioguanosine derivatives (14), respectively. In situ dimethoxytritylation of these thionucleoside derivatives gave the 5'-masked products 4 and 15 in high overall yields from 1 and 11. 6-S-(2-Cyanoethyl)-5'-O-(4,4'-dimethoxytrityl)-6-thioinosine (23) was synthesized via substitution of the 5'-O-tritylated 6-chloropurine riboside derivative 22 with 2-cyanoethanethiol. These S-(2-cyanoethyl)thionucleosides were converted to the 2'-O-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)ribonucleoside 3'-phosphoramidite derivatives 7, 18, and 26 or 3',5'-bisphosphate derivatives 8, 19, and 27. Treatment of 8, 19, and 27 with DBU gave thionucleoside 3',5'-bisphosphate derivatives 9, 20, and 28, which were found to be substrates of T4 RNA ligase. These thionucleoside 3',5'-bisphosphates were examined as donors for ligation with m3(2,2,7) G5'pppAmUmA, i.e., the 5'-terminal tetranucleotide fragment of U1 snRNA, The 4-thiouridine 3',5'-bisphosphate derivative 9 was found to serve as the most active substrate of T4 RNA ligase with a reaction efficiency of 96%.