The TcO4-binding to human serum albumin --the stoichiometry and characteristics of the binding equilibrium.

The stoichiometry and the characteristics of the TcO4-binding equilibrium to human serum albumin were investigated by the use of 99TcO4-. Based on the Scatchard plots, the number of binding sites and the association constants were obtained at pH 7.38,6.04, 5.10, 4.18, 2.80 and 0.65, respectively. From the parameters at pH 7.38, it was estimated that 64% of TcO4- added was bounded to human serum albumin under physiological condition. Variance in the values at pH 7.38, 6.04 and 5.10 shows that these bindings are stabilized by electrostatic forces. Below pH 4.18, the number of binding sites increased and the association constants constants diminished. These phenomena may be attributed to the conformation change of human serum albumin.     

Field-angle-dependent specific heat measurements and gap determination of a heavy fermion superconductor URu2Si2

To identify the superconducting gap structure in URu2Si2, we perform field-angle-dependent specific heat measurements for the two principal orientations in addition to field rotations, and a theoretical analysis based on microscopic calculations. The Sommerfeld coefficient gamma(H)'s in the mixed state exhibit a distinctly different field dependence. This comes from point nodes and the substantial Pauli paramagnetic effect of URu2Si2. These two features combined give rise to a consistent picture of superconducting properties, including a possible first order transition of Hc2 at low temperatures.     

Effect of oxygen annealing on the photoresponse of PbSe thin films fabricated by the pulsed laser deposition method

In this work, we have fabricated lead selenide (PbSe) thin films by the pulsed laser deposition method on Si/SiO₂ substrates and investigated the effect of oxygen annealing (sensitization) in these films. The oxygen-sensitized films show high responsivity in the visible (VIS) and the near-infrared (NIR) region at room temperature without cooling. We also demonstrate the effective surface oxidation of PbSe thin films during the oxygen annealing process without treated with commonly used halogens that leads to a better photoresponse in these PbSe films.     

Ab initio calculations for the N(2D) + CH4 reaction: Does the N(2D) atom really insert into CH bonds of alkane molecules?

The geometry of the transition state for the N(²D) + CH₄ reaction has been reoptimized at the complete‐active‐space self‐consistent field theory with a large active space and we have confirmed that the N(²D) atom initially inserts into a CH bond to form adiabatically an intermediate radical, CH₃NH(²A″). Extensive single‐point calculations at the multireference configuration interaction level of theory have also been carried out to understand the feature of the potential energy surface for the C–H insertion reaction. In addition, we have found that the N(²D)+CH₄ reaction dynamics on the second lowest doublet state (²A′) is dominated by C–H insertion although the barrier height is somewhat larger in energy than the corresponding insertion barrier associated with the lowest doublet state. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 79: 190–197, 2000     

Chiral helicenoid diarylethene with large change in specific optical rotation by photochromism

A diarylethene possessing one [4]thiaheterohelicene and one benzothiophene, the latter with a chiral methoxymethoxyethyl group on its C-3 position, was proved to work as a switch of specific optical rotation at a wavelength at which both colored and colorless forms have no absorption in solution. The difference of the specific optical rotation was 1300 degrees between the open form and the photostationary state. The specific optical rotation of one of the isolated optically active major colored forms was -4680 degrees. The conversion to the colored form was 64%, and the diastereomeric excess of photocyclization was 47%.     

Chiral helicenoid diarylethene with highly diastereoselective photocyclization

A novel photochromic helicenoid diarylethene (R)-1-[1-(1-methoxymethoxyethyl)-2-naphtho[2,1-b]thienyl]-2-(2,4,5-trimethyl-3-thienyl)hexafluorocyclopentene was synthesized enantioselectively. It showed highly diastereoselective photocyclization (90% de) and a large change (950 degrees) in the specific optical rotation value at 633 nm upon UV light irradiation in ethyl acetate.     

Primordial non-Gaussianities of gravitational waves in the most general single-field inflation model with second-order field equations

We completely clarify the feature of primordial non-Gaussianities of tensor perturbations in the most general single-field inflation model with second-order field equations. It is shown that the most general cubic action for the tensor perturbation h(ij) is composed only of two contributions, one with two spacial derivatives and the other with one time derivative on each h(ij). The former is essentially identical to the cubic term that appears in Einstein gravity and predicts a squeezed shape, while the latter newly appears in the presence of the kinetic coupling to the Einstein tensor and predicts an equilateral shape. Thus, only two shapes appear in the graviton bispectrum of the most general single-field inflation model, which could open a new clue to the identification of inflationary gravitational waves in observations of cosmic microwave background anisotropies as well as direct detection experiments.