Adsorption of polyprotic acid at the water/air interface

A rigorous thermodynamic treatment appropriate for surface adsorption from mixed aqueous solution of alkali and polyprotic acid was derived. Those equations were applied to mixed aqueous solution/air systems of alkali metal hydroxide and Fe^III complex with ethylenediamine- N, N, N′,N′-tetraacetate (Fe-EDTA). Surface density of each species arising from Fe-EDTA was separately evaluated, and thus, surface activity of Fe-EDTA was studied, especially its dependence on pH and how it is influenced by the counter cations. Fe-EDTA was positively adsorbed at the water/air interface at very low pHs and negatively at high pHs. The pH range of positive adsorption of Fe-EDTA with potassium ion, as a counter ion, was wider than that with sodium ion. Thus, potassium ion, a structure breaker, tended to smooth surface adsorption of Fe-EDTA at the water/air interface, whereas sodium ion, a structure maker, tended to withdraw Fe-EDTA from the interfacial region.     

Coupling of two diazotized 3‐aminothieno[3,4‐c]coumarins with aromatic amines

The coupling reactions of two diazotized 3‐aminothieno[3,4‐c]coumarins were investigated. Compounds 1a , 1b both react with sodium nitrite in concentrated sulphuric acid at 0–5°C to give the diazotized intermediates 2 and 3 , the latter resulting from the acid ‐catalyzed hydrolysis of the lactonic ring of 2 . The in situ formed diazonium salts react with aromatic amines ( 4 ) to afford a series of arylazothiophenes dyes in the form of their ammonium sulfate salts. With diazotized aniline, besides the normally expected phenylazothiophene 10 from the reaction with compound 1a , the corresponding product of acid hydrolysis 11 was also isolated. In at least one of the cases, the thienyl diazonium salt 2 undergoes a Gomberg–Bachmann arylation reaction with p‐nitroaniline to give the 2‐arylthiophene 9 . The direct hydrolysis of compounds 1a , 1b by concentrated sulphuric acid and subsequent oxidative dimerization of the primary product of acid hydrolysis led to compound 12 . J. Heterocyclic Chem., (2011).     

Tunable few-cycle and multicycle coherent terahertz radiation from relativistic electrons

We report the generation of tunable, narrow-band, few-cycle and multicycle coherent terahertz (THz) pulses from a temporally modulated relativistic electron beam. We demonstrate that the frequency of the THz radiation and the number of the oscillation cycles of the THz electric field can be tuned by changing the modulation period of the electron beam through a temporally shaped photocathode drive laser. The central frequency of the THz spectrum is tunable from ～0.26 to 2.6 THz with a bandwidth of ～0.16 THz.     

Edge states of Sr2RuO4 detected by in-plane tunneling spectroscopy

Tunneling spectroscopy has been performed on Sr(2)RuO(4) searching for the edge states peculiar to topological superconductivity. Conductance spectra exhibit broad humps with three types of peak shape: domelike peak, split peak, and two-step peak. By comparing the experiments with predictions for unconventional superconductivity, these varieties are shown to originate from multiband chiral p-wave symmetry with weak anisotropy of pair amplitude. The broad hump in the conductance spectrum is a direct manifestation of the edge state due to chiral p-wave superconductivity.     

Construction of a Meroterpenoid-Like Compounds Library Based on Diversity-Enhanced Extracts

The structural diversity of natural products and their derivatives have long contributed to the development of new drugs. However, the difficulty in obtaining compounds bearing skeletally novel structures has recently led to a decline of pharmaceutical research into natural products. This paper reports the construction of a meroterpenoid-like library containing 25 compounds with diverse molecular scaffolds obtained from diversity-enhanced extracts. This method constitutes an approach for increasing the chemical diversity of natural-product-like compounds by combining natural product chemistry and diversity-oriented synthesis. Extensive pharmacological screening of the library revealed promising compounds for anti-osteoporotic and anti-lymphoma/leukemia drugs. This result indicates that the use of diversity-enhanced extracts is an effective methodology for producing chemical libraries for the purpose of drug discovery.     

Topologically induced surface electron state on Si(1 1 1) surfaces

First-principle electronic structure calculation reveals the appearance of a new class of surface state on hydrogenated and clean Si(1 1 1) surfaces. The states are found to exhibit different characteristics to conventional surface electron states in terms of the peculiar distribution of the wavefunction depending on the wavenumber. In addition, the state results in flat dispersion bands in a part of the surface Brillouin zone having energy of about 8 eV below the top of the valence band. An analytic expression based on the tight-binding approximation corroborates the surface electron state results from the delicate balance of the electron transfer among the atoms situated near the surface. The obtained results give a possible extension and generalization of the edge state in graphite ribbons with zigzag edges.