Face-selective decoration of an organic single crystal toward photochemical devices

Face-selective decoration of a single crystal constructed from 1-pyrenemethylammonium chloride by an anionic porphyrin dye is reported. CLSM observations indicated that the {001} face of the single crystal was selectively coated by the anionic porphyrin (TPPS). This novel achievement could be the first step for preparation of multi-component composite materials mediated by anisotropy of organic single crystals toward photochemical devices.     

Direct carboxylation reaction of methane with CO by a Yb(OAc)3/Mn(OAc)2/NaClO/H2O catalytic system under very mild conditions

A new method of synthesis of acetic acid in water has been developed from the carboxylation of methane with carbon monoxide using lanthanide catalysts. Ytterbium(III) acetate has been found to be the most active catalyst among the compounds of the lanthanide series in the carboxylation reaction of methane with carbon monoxide. Sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide was used as the oxidant in this reaction. Sodium hypochlorite exhibited more favorable activity than hydrogen peroxide in the reaction. The catalytic activity was improved by the addition of transition-metal salts such as manganese(II) acetate. The best result has been found at a ratio of manganese(II) acetate to ytterbium(III) acetate of 1:10. The optimum reaction conditions (reaction temperature, 40 °C; time, 20 h; methane, 20 atm; carbon monoxide, 5 atm) have been obtained. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

μ‐Acetato‐O:O′‐bis{[bis­(salicyl­idene)­ethyl­ene­diamin­ato]manganese(III)} per­chlorate

In the title complex, [Mn₂(C₁₆H₁₄N₂O₂)₂(C₂H₃O₂)]ClO₄, two [Mn(salen)] moieties [salen is bis­(salicyl­idene)­ethyl­enedi­amine] are connected through a μ‐acetate bridge in a syn–anti fashion. The Mn?Mn distance is 5.365 (1) Å.     

A study on the utilization of the Youden plot to evaluate proficiency test results

Methods of utilizing the Youden plot obtained from interlaboratory comparison tests are proposed. The Youden plot is a powerful tool for visually evaluating between- or within-laboratory errors. However, there are no generally applicable methods to indicate the anomalies in the between- and the within-laboratory errors in qualitative terms. An evaluation frame was therefore developed in this study as an indication method. Moreover, the Youden plot is considered to be useful for visually assessing the comprehensive performance of laboratories using two types of results. Although the confidence ellipse has been proposed in ISO 13528:2005 for this purpose, robust determination of the parameters has not yet been implemented. In the present study, robust determination of one of the parameters, the correlation coefficient, was developed. Our proposals were analytically validated using two types of statistical models. In addition, the properties were evaluated through computational simulations. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that our proposals are practically applicable to actual interlaboratory comparison tests.     

Device for co-culture of sympathetic neurons and cardiomyocytes using microfabrication

Rat superior cervical ganglion (SCG) neurons and ventricular myocytes (VMs) were co-cultured separately in a minichamber placed on a microelectrode-array (MEA) substrate. The minichamber, fabricated photolithographically using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), had 2 compartments, 16 microcompartments and 8 microconduits. The SCG neurons were seeded into one of the compartments and all of the microcompartments using a glass pipette controlled by a micromanipulator and a microinjector. The VMs were seeded into the other compartment. Three days after seeding of the VMs, the SCG neurons were still confined to one compartment and all of the microcompartments, and the neurites of the SCG neurons had connected with the VMs via the microconduits. Constant-voltage stimulation, using a train of biphasic square pulses (1 ms at +1 V, followed by -1 ms at 1 V), was applied to the SCG neurons in the microcompartments using 16 electrodes. Evoked responses were observed in several electrodes while electrical stimulation was applied to the SCG neurons. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the frequency of the stimulation pulses had significant effects in increasing the beat rate of the VMs, and that the interaction between the frequency and the number of the pulses also had a significant effect on the ratio. No significant increases in the beat rate were observed when propranolol, a β-adrenergic receptor antagonist, was added to the culture medium. These results suggest that synaptic pathways were formed between the SCG neurons and the VMs, and that this co-culture device can be utilized for studies of network-level interactions between sympathetic neurons and cardiomyocytes.