Chemical and Genetic Study of Ligularia cyathiceps in Yunnan Province of China

Root chemicals and evolutionarily neutral DNA regions in L. cyathiceps samples collected in the Zhongdian (Shangrila) County of Yunnan, P. R. China, were examined. Twenty compounds were isolated, including three new ones, 1β,10β‐epoxy‐6β‐(propionyloxy)furanoeremophilan‐9‐one ( 6 ), 1β,10β‐epoxy‐8α‐ethoxyeremophila‐6,11‐diene ( 14 ), and 11αH‐6β‐isobutyryloxy‐1β,10β,7β,8β‐diepoxyeremophilan‐12,8α‐olide ( 15 ). The chemical diversity was found to be limited, with cacalol ( 1 ) and 6‐(acyloxy)furanoeremophilan‐9‐ones ( 4 and/or 5 ) being major components in all the samples. The nuclear ribosomal RNA gene was also found to harbor little variation, although two distinct sequence types were found for the plastid atpB‐rbcL intergenic region.     

Thermal Conductivity of poly-p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole Film along the In-Plane Axis in the 10–300 K Temperature Range

The thermal conductivities of compression molded thin films of poly-p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole (PBO) were measured in directions along an in-plane axis in the 10–300?K temperature range by a steady-state heat flow method, with interest in the use of the material for superconductivity applications. The thermal conductivities of the PBO films increased from 0.3?W/mK to 9.0?W/mK with increasing temperature from 10?K to 300?K and these were much higher than those of polyimide films, epoxy resin and glass fiber reinforced plastics at all temperatures. The 9.0?W/mK at 300?K was 60% of that of stainless steel (SUS304). It was 6?W/mK at 150?K, which was half that of SUS304 and was 3.3?W/mK at 77?K, which was 33% of that of SUS304. The thermal conductivities of the PBO films were lower than those of a cloth of high strength ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber reinforced plastics in the 30?K–180?K temperature range and were almost equivalent to its values in the 180?K–300?K temperature range. The main contribution to the thermal conduction in the PBO films was from thermal phonon conduction along the molecular chains. Although many kinds of high thermal conductivity polymeric materials have been prepared by a uni-directional drawing process or by adding high thermal conductive additives, the PBO film showed high thermal conductivity without a uni-directional drawing process or high thermal conductive additive.     

Binding properties of alginic acid and chitin

The binding properties of granular alginic acid(H-alg.) and chitin to iodine, bromine, cadmium ion, calcium ion and cholesterol were investigated. Chitin-iodine and chitin-bromine compounds closely resemble those of H-alg. The amount of iodine included by these polysaccharides increased with a decrease in the concentration of potassium iodide (KI). The number of sugar residues bound to one iodine molecule extrapolated to 0 g of KI was around 6.0 for H-alg. and 6.4 for chitin. These saccharides, which do not form a gel in water, were found to also absorb KI and radioactive iodide or iodine in aqueous solution. H-alg. did not show as much affinity to cadmium ion and calcium ion and cholesterol in iso-propyl alcohol as metalalginates.Presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Inclusion Phenomena and the Third International Symposium on Cyclodextrins, Lancaster, U.K., 20–25 July 1986.     

Design and fabrication of a dielectrophoresis-based cell-positioning and cell-culture device for construction of cell networks

In this paper, we describe the design and fabrication of a dielectrophoresis (DEP)-based cell-positioning and cell-culture device for the construction of cell networks. This device enables both individual cell positioning and cell culture. Titanium electrodes were fabricated by deposition. Furthermore, microchambers and microchannels composed of SU-8, which is a negative photoresist, were used to carry out cell culture and enable cell differentiation. Using our device, N1E-115 cells were individually positioned in the microchambers, and the positioning yield was 45%. After positioning, the cells could be continuously cultured in the microchambers. Furthermore, the cells differentiated, and their neurites extended through the microchannels after cultivation for several days. These results indicate that our device greatly increases the prospects for individual cell positioning and can be used to construct cell networks that have several applications in the medical field, for example, in drug screening.     

Investigation of individual micrometer-size Kosa particle with on-site combination of electron microscope and synchrotron X-ray microscope.

The Kosa (yellow sand) aerosol affects the global environment as well as human health because it migrates from the interior of China to other areas, absorbing various atmospheric elements. Investigation into individual Kosa aerosol particles, which are submicroscopic to several tens of micrometers in diameter, is required to resolving the issue. We installed a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) on a synchrotron radiation (SR) beam line and introduced the SR beam into the SEM chamber for combinatorial application of SEM-EDX and SR X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF) spectrometry to individual particles. It should be noted that detailed topographic observation by SEM and sensitive elemental analysis by SR-XRF, both crucial for individual particle measurement but which previously had to be carried out separately, were jointly performed inside the SEM chamber in this setup. Here, we show that SR-XRF results, in conjunction with SEM images, contributed toward resolving individual particle dispositions. Atmospheric sulfur primarily adheres to calcium in the aerosol particles and the particle surface roughens as a consequence of the chemical reaction between the two elements.     

Some properties of invariant polynomials with matrix arguments and their applications in econometrics

Summary Further properties are derived for a class of invariant polynomials with several matrix arguments which extend the zonal polynomials. Generalized Laguerre polynomials are defined, and used to obtain expansions of the sum of independent noncentral Wishart matrices and an associated generalized regression coefficient matrix. The latter includes thek-class estimator in econometrics.     

Medicinal Flowers. XXXI. Acylated oleanane-type triterpene saponins, Sasanquasaponins I-V, with antiallergic activity from the flower buds of Camellia sasanqua

The methanolic extract and its 1-butanol-soluble fraction from the flower buds of Camellia sasanqua THUNB. were found to show inhibitory activities on the release of β-hexosaminidase from rat basophile leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells. From the 1-butanol-soluble fraction, five new acylated oleanane-type triterpene saponins, sasanquasaponins I-V, were isolated together with a known saponin and their chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of chemical and physicochemical evidence. The principal saponin constituents, sasanquasaponins I-III, with an acyl group at the 22-position of the aglycon part showed the inhibitory effects on the release of β-hexosaminidase and some structure-activity relationships were reported.     

Copper-catalyzed complete regio- and stereoselective cyclization of 1-aryl-3-sulfanyl-4-oxahepta-1,6-diynes triggered by alkynylation

Copper(I)-catalyzed alkynylation-cyclization of 4-oxahepta-1,6-diynes 1 with a wide variety of terminal alkynes proceeded to give (3E,4Z)-3-(phenylsulfanylmethylene)-4-(2-propynylidene)tetrahydrofuran-2-yl]benzenes 2aa-he in high yields with complete regio- and stereoselectivity.     

Reactions of 1,3-thiazine-2,6-dithiones. Part 5. Novel synthesis of 3,5-dicyano-4-thiopyridones via 2-cyanomethyldihydro-1,3-thiazine-6-thiones

A novel synthesis of a series of 2,6-disubstituted 3,5-dicyano-4-thiopyridones 4 by the decomposition of 2,4-disubstituted 5-cyano-2-cyanomethyldihydro-1,3-thiazine-6-thiones 2 , which are synthesized from 4-substituted 5-cyano-1,3-thiazine-2,6-dithiones and enaminonitriles, is described.