Rubidium metavanadate formation at room temperature under vacuum ultraviolet irradiation from metal-organic compositions

White light emitting phosphor RbVO₃ films have been successfully fabricated by means of a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) irradiation using an excimer lamp after spin coating of metal-organic solution onto substrates. The metal-organic carboxylates coated on substrates decomposed and reacted under the VUV irradiation. The metal-organic bonds were efficiently cleaved by the VUV illumination not only in air but also in vacuum, however, there was not a strong driving force for the reaction process to the formation of RbVO₃ in the vacuum atmosphere. On the contrary, the reaction and crystallization simultaneously proceeded under photo-chemically produced active oxygen and/or ozone atmospheres due to the VUV illumination in air. The reaction between the photo-activated Rb-O and V-O species could be strongly enhanced by the oxidation atmospheres at the moment of the metal-organic bond cleavage under the VUV irradiation.     

Anthracene‐Attached Persistent Tricyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Radicals

Anthracene‐attached tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbon radicals having different central polygons, Ant‐5 , Ant‐6 , and Ant‐7 , were synthesized to evaluate the role of an anthracene substituent group in the stability and reactivity of tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbon radicals. The bulky anthryl group effectively protects a carbon atom with high spin density, resulting in high persistence of the radicals. On the other hand, the combination of the anthryl group and the tricyclic aromatic scaffold makes the molecular structure drastically change from a twisted form to a folded form and an unpaired electron moves into the anthryl moiety, eventually affording a tail‐to‐tail σ‐dimer.     

Chemoselective Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of Functionalized Aminals Through the Umpolung Organocascade Reaction of α‐Imino Amides

Chiral functionalized aminals are important core structures of natural products and pharmaceuticals. Their chemo‐ and regioselective catalytic, asymmetric synthesis has been realized through the umpolung reaction of α‐imino amides using a catalyst we originally developed. Functionalized aminals were prepared with high chemoselectivity by treating a hemiaminal intermediate with pyridine in butanol. Evaluation of substrate scope revealed that this transformation could be achieved with a wide range of α‐imino amides to produce the desired products in high yields with up to 97 % ee. A mechanistic study suggested that aminal formation proceeded through the ring opening/ring closing equilibrium of the hemiaminal skeleton.     

Discovery and development of microporous metal carboxylates

We have found a form of copper(II) terephthalate that occluded an enormous amount of gases such as N2, Ar, O2, and Xe. Copper(II) terephthalate is the first metal complex found capable of adsorbing gases. This complex has opened a new field of adsorbent chemistry and is recognized as a leader in the construction of microporous metal complexes. In extending the route for the synthesis of microporous complexes, we obtained many new porous materials that are widely recognized as useful materials for applications in areas such as gas storage, molecular sieves, catalysis, inclusion complexes, and surface science.     

Martin Boundary of a Fractal Domain

A uniformly John domain is a domain intermediate between a John domain and a uniform domain. We determine the Martin boundary of a uniformly John domain D as an application of a boundary Harnack principle. We show that a certain self-similar fractal has its complement as a uniformly John domain. In particular, the complement of the 3-dimensional Sierpiski gasket is a uniform domain and its Martin boundary is homeomorphic to the Sierpiski gasket itself.     

Morphogenesis and bioluminescence in germination of red bean

Spontaneous bioluminescence and morphogenesis were investigated for the germination and the growth processes of a red bean seed under suppression of photosynthesis. Three types of shape in seed growth were observed in well controlled conditions: (1) no root hair and leaves, (2) with root hairs and leaves and (3) no root growth. In this article, growth dynamics for the first case was investigated. The average growth dynamics of the root length of a red bean after germination and its variance were well described by a simple logistic equation with a noise term. It was observed that the scaling property for the growth dynamics has held. Strong luminescence was observed at two inflection points of the logistic curve of the root growth. By the use of a two dimensional photon counting method, it was clarified that the strong emission was mainly radiated from the cell division zone near a root cap and rather less emission from an elongation area.     

In situ small-angle neutron scattering and rheological measurements of shear-induced gelation

The microscopic structure of shear-induced gels for a mixed solution of 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose and nanometer-size spherical droplets has been investigated by in situ small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) with a Couette geometry as a function of shear rate gamma. With increasing gamma, the viscosity increased rapidly at gamma approximately 4.0 s(-1), followed by a shear thinning. After cessation of shear, the system exhibited an extraordinarily large steady viscosity. This phenomenon was observed as a shear-induced sol-gel transition. Real-time SANS measurements showed an increase in the scattering intensity exclusively at low scattering angle region. However, neither orientation of polymer chains nor droplet deformation was detected and the SANS patterns remained isotropic irrespective of gamma. It took about a few days for the gel to recover its original sol state. A possible mechanism of gelation is proposed from the viewpoint of shear-induced percolation transition.     

Enhanced pearl-chain formation by electrokinetic interaction with the bottom surface of vessel

Counterions in an electric double layer (EDL) around a colloidal particle accumulate on one side of the EDL and are deficient on the other side under an electric field, resulting in an imbalance of ionic concentration in the EDL, that is to say, the ionic polarization of EDL. It is well known that the ionic polarization of EDL induces electric dipole moments whereby the alignments of colloidal particles (e.g., pearl chains) are formed under alternating electric fields. In this study, we focus on the effect of the frequency of applied electric fields (100 Hz-1 kHz) on the alignment of silica particles settling at the bottom of a silica glass vessel. In digital imaging analyses for pearl chains of silica particles, it is confirmed that surface distances between two neighboring particles decrease but the number of particles in a pearl chain increases as the frequency of the applied electric field is lowered from 1 kHz to 100 Hz. More interestingly, electrical conductance measurements suggest that the induced ionic polarization of EDL around silica particles at the bottom of the silica vessel is enhanced as the frequency is lowered from 1 kHz to 100 Hz, whereas the ionic polarization around isolated silica particles in uniform dispersions is alleviated by the relaxation of ionic concentration in the EDL as a result of the diffusion of counterions. This curious phenomenon can be explained by considering that the ionic polarization of EDL of silica particles at the bottom of a vessel is affected by the electro-osmosis of the silica surface at the bottom of the vessel.     

Synthesis of 2,5,8,11,14,17-hexafluoro-hexa-peri- hexabenzocoronene for n-type organic field-effect transistors

A fluorine-substituted hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene was synthesized as a thermostable active material for n-type semiconductors. The LUMO and HOMO energy levels, estimated by UV-vis and photoelectron spectroscopy, were lower by 0.5 eV than those of hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene. A field-effect transistor fabricated by vacuum sublimation showed n-type performance with a field-effect mobility of 1.6 x 10(-2) cm(2)/Vs and an on/off ratio of 10(4). The electron-withdrawing effect of the fluorine substituents changed the polarity from p-type to n-type.