New approach to transport improvement in a helical magnetic axis system by introduction of effective toroidal curvature

A new approach to transport improvement in a helical magnetic axis stellarator is proposed. First of all, the proposal is presented for the L = 1 system. The effective toroidal curvature term epsilon(T), defined as the sum of the usual toroidal curvature and one of the nearest satellite harmonics of the helical field, determines confinement conditions of localized trapped particles. There exists a certain correlation between the smallness of epsilon(T) and the omnigeneity. This approach would give rise to the possibility of a stellarator design study in a wider parameter domain than quasisymmetry approaches.     

Thermoelectric properties of p‐type Mg2Si0.6Ge0.4 fabricated by bulk mechanical alloying and hot pressing

Bulk mechanical alloying (BMA) followed by hot pressing (HP) was used to prepare Mg₂Si_0.6Ge_0.4 thermoelectric material with high densification. Starting from the elemental power mixture, the Mg₂Si_0.6Ge_0.4 solid solution was solid‐state synthesized via BMA. In fact, the peaks for the cubic‐structured Mg₂Si_0.6Ge_0.4 solid solution phase were detected after 300 cycles in BMA. The single phase of Mg₂Si_0.6Ge_0.4 was synthesized at 600 cycles in BMA. Mg₂Si_0.6Ge_0.4 showed p‐type semiconduction without doping. Effects of hot pressing conditions on thermoelectric properties were investigated. With increasing hot pressing temperature from 673 to 773 K and pressure from 500 MPa to 1 GPa, the electrical conductivity increased and the Seebeck coefficient decreased. The maximum figure of merit was obtained with the processing parameter of 600 cycles BMA and hot pressing at 773 K, 1 GPa for 1 h. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A new glycosylation method part 3: study of microwave effects at low temperatures to control reaction pathways and reduce byproducts

The efficiency of microwave irradiation at low temperature for glycosylations is described. Although oligosaccharide synthesis usually requires reactive donors for glycosylations, which have leaving groups on the anomer positions, i.e., trichloroacetoimidates, halogenates, thioalkyl glycosides, etc., the suitable donors in our microwave supported synthesis of Lewis X oligosaccharide were very stable acetate derivatives. Regarding glycosylation with a fucosyl acetate donor and a glucosamine acceptor, microwave irradiation with simultaneous cooling improved yields. Moreover, further synthesis to Lewis X derivatives was achieved only with microwave irradiation at low temperatures. Without microwave irradiation, we could only obtain byproducts and none of the designed product at any reaction temperature.     

Generation of a novel monoclonal antibody against cortisol-[C-4]-bovine serum albumin conjugate: application to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for urinary and serum cortisol.

Measurement of cortisol levels in body fluids is important for monitoring pituitary gland and adrenal functions. To develop a specific and standardized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), a novel monoclonal anti-cortisol antibody has been generated using a reasonably designed haptenic derivative. Spleen cells were prepared from the BALB/c or A/J mouse, which had repeatedly been immunized with a conjugate of 4-(2-carboxyethylthio)cortisol (CET) and bovine serum albumin, to be fused with P3/NS1/1-Ag4-1 myeloma cells. After four fusion experiments, one hybridoma clone secreting a practical antibody has been established. The resulting monoclonal antibody CS#38 (isotype gamma1, kappa) showed an affinity constant (K(a)) for cortisol of 1 x 10(9) M(-1) and provided a practical calibration curve (detection limit, 0.26 ng per assay) in a homologous ELISA system employing horseradish peroxidase-labeled CET as a labeled antigen. Cross-reactivities with related C-21 steroids were acceptably low: 11-deoxycortisol (4.3%), cortisone (4.0%), corticosterone (1.9%), progesterone (1.6%), 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (12%), 6beta-hydroxycortisol (8.4%), and tetrahydrocortisol (< 0.1%). Urinary and serum cortisol levels of healthy volunteers were determined by this method after methylene chloride extraction to be 39.0 +/- 17.0 microg/day (n = 7) and 80.8 +/- 38.9 ng/mL (n = 10), respectively, both of which are in the reference range.     

Role of Arg123 in Light‐driven Anion Pump Mechanisms of pharaonis Halorhodopsin†

Halorhodopsin (HR) acts as a light‐driven chloride pump which transports a chloride ion from the extracellular (EC) to the cytoplasmic space during a photocycle reaction that includes some photointermediates initiated by illumination. To understand the chloride uptake mechanisms, we focused on a basic residue Arg123 of HR from Natronomonas pharaonis (NpHR), which is the only basic residue located in the EC half ion channel. By the measurements of the visible absorption spectra in the dark and the light‐induced inward current through the membrane, it was shown that the chloride binding and transport ability of NpHR completely disappeared by the change of arginine to glutamine. From flashphotolysis analysis, the photocycle of R123Q differed from that of wildtype NpHR completely. The response of the R123H mutant depended on pH. These facts imply that the positive charge at position 123 is essential for chloride binding in the ground state and for the chloride uptake under illumination. On the basis of the molecular structures of HR and the anion‐transportable mutants of bacteriorhodopsin, the effects of the positive charge and the conformational change of the Arg123 side chain as well as the chloride‐pumping mechanism are discussed.     

Preparation of poly(amino‐amide) particles complexed with ZnO particles using silane coupling agents

Poly(amino‐amide) particles were prepared by reacting 4,4′‐diphenyldicarbonyl chloride and 3,3′‐diaminobenzidine using a precipitation polymerization method with ultrasonic irradiation. The resulting particles had a narrow size distribution with an average diameter of 334 nm and showed excellent dispersion stability in water. The particles obtained were then modified with silane coupling agents (GPES) by reacting the amino groups of the poly(amino‐amide) particles with the epoxide rings of the GPES molecules in N,N‐dimethylformamide or N‐methylpyrrolidone using di‐n‐butyltin dilaurate as a catalyst. The amount of GPES covalently bonded to the poly(amino‐amide) particles was found to depend strongly on the reaction solvent and catalyst used. The resulting particles showed a narrow size distribution and the connections among the particles were not observed. On the other hand, the particles before and after modification showed different thermal properties and dispersion stability in water. The GPES‐modified aromatic polyamide particles were then complexed with ZnO particles with an average diameter of about 20 nm in aqueous acetic acid solution. It was found that the surface of the aromatic polyamide particles was covered with ZnO particles via hydrolysis reaction. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 4908–4918, 2009     

Stepwise phosphine sulfide formation and metal-bridging reaction of tetradentate and tridentate phosphine ligands on palladium(II)

Kinetic studies on the stepwise phosphine sulfide formation reaction of the five-coordinate trigonal-bipyramidal Pd(II) complexes with the tripodal tetradentate phosphine ligand, [PdCl(pp₃)]Cl and [Pd(4-Cltp)(pp₃)](BF₄) (pp₃ = tris[2-(diphenylphosphino)ethyl]phosphine; 4-Cltp = 4-chlorothiophenolate), were carried out, and it was revealed that the reactions proceeded via the intermediate with a pendant dissociated phosphino group. Formation of the intermediate was utilized for the bridging reaction onto Pt(II) to form the phosphine-bridged linear trinuclear and cyclic tetranuclear mixed-metal complexes. Difference in the steric conversion mechanism in the phosphine-bridging reaction between the linear tridentate phosphine (bis[2-(diphenylphosphino)ethyl]phenylphosphine) and pp₃ is also reported.     

Rapid enantioseparation of 1-aminoindan by microchip electrophoresis with linear-imaging UV detection.

Chiral separations of 1-aminoindan (AI) by cyclodextrin electrokinetic chromatography (CDEKC) were investigated on microfluidic quartz chips. By using a microchip electrophoresis (MCE) instrument equipped with a linear-imaging UV detector, the separation process of the enantiomeric compounds was observed. When sulfated beta-cyclodextrin was employed as a chiral selector, the baseline separation of AI could be achieved within 1 min with a high repeatability. The relative standard deviation of the migration time was less than 6%. The fastest separation was achieved in 14 s, utilizing a separation length of only 6.1 mm. These results show that the MCE analysis employing a linear imaging UV detector has a significant potential for fast chiral analysis.