Nuclear moments as a probe of electronic structure in material, exotic nuclear structure and fundamental symmetry

We report our studies in various fields of Physics through nuclear moments utilizing the β-NMR technique, including material sciences, nuclear structures and fundamental symmetries. Especially, we focus on the recent progress in the studies on the electronic structure in Pt through Knight shifts of various impurities, lattice locations of impurities, electric field gradients, the analysis of nuclear spin in terms of its components, anomaly in the spin expectation value for ⁹C-⁹Li mirror pair, the G-parity conservation law, and the Ramsey resonance on UCN for future neutron EDM measurements.     

Intramolecular cyclization of beta,beta-difluorostyrenes bearing an iminomethyl or a diazenyl group at the ortho position: synthesis of 3-fluorinated isoquinoline and cinnoline derivatives

o-Formyl-substituted beta,beta-difluorostyrenes readily react with NH(2)OH.HCl or NH(4)OAc to afford 3-fluoroisoquinoline derivatives in good yield via (i) the formation of the corresponding oximes or imines and (ii) subsequent intramolecular replacement of a vinylic fluorine by the sp(2) nitrogen of the iminomethyl group (HON=CH- or HN=CH-). Beta,beta-Difluorostyrenes bearing an o-diazenyl group (HN=N-), generated by reduction of the corresponding diazonium ions, undergo a similar substitution to afford 3-fluorinated cinnolines.     

Fabrication of nanofibers with uniform morphology by self-assembly of designed peptides

Fabrication of controlled peptide nanofibers with homogeneous morphology has been demonstrated. Amphiphilic beta-sheet peptides were designed as sequences of Pro-Lys-X(1)-Lys-X(2)-X(2)-Glu-X(1)-Glu-Pro. X(1) and X(2) were hydrophobic residues selected from Phe, Ile, Val, or Tyr. The peptide FI (X(1)=Phe; X(2)=Ile) self-assemble into straight fibers with 80-120 nm widths and clear edges, as examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The fiber formation is performed in a hierarchical manner: beta-sheet peptides form a protofibril, the protofibrils assemble side-by-side to form a ribbon, and the ribbons then coil in a left-handed fashion to make up a straight fiber. These type of fibers are formed from peptides possessing hydrophobic aromatic Phe residue(s). Furthermore, a peptide with Ala residues at both N and C termini does not form fibers (100 nm scale) with clear edges; this causes random aggregation of small pieces of fibers instead. Thus, the combination of unique amphiphilic sequences and terminal Pro residues determine the fiber morphology.     

Carbonyl reduction with CaH2 and R3SiCl catalyzed by ZnCl2

Ketones and aldehydes were effectively reduced to the corresponding alcohols (or their silyl ethers) by the reaction with CaH₂ and R₃SiCl in the presence of a catalytic amount of ZnCl₂. In the absence of the carbonyl substrate, the reagent reduced R₃SiCl to the corresponding hydrosilane under mild reaction conditions.     

Fixation of a cholesteric helical structure by the photopolymerization of a cholesteryl derived monomer

A cholesteryl derived monomer was synthesized according to a conventional synthetic route; it exhibits a cholesteric phase above 129°C, and shows a red colour due to selective reflection in the cholesteric phase. Photopolymerization of the monomer was carried out at 135°C in the cholesteric phase. The helical structure of the cholesteric phase of the monomer was frozen by photopolymerization. A peak based on the selective reflection of the cholesteric phase was detected at 615 nm in the transmittance UV-Vis spectrum. Mixtures of the monomer with a binaphthyl derivative were prepared to control the selective reflection wavelength; they all also exhibited a cholesteric phase. The selective reflection wavelength of the mixture was dependent upon the ratio of the binaphthyl derivative in the mixture. This wavelength became shorter with increasing ratio of the binaphthyl derivative. The polymer films obtained by photopolymerization displayed almost the same selective reflection wavelength as the corresponding mixtures before photopolymerization. The selective reflection wavelength of the polymer films did not change up to about 250°C.     

Is CO2 fixation promoted through the formation of DBU bicarbonate salt?

The bicyclic amidines, 1,8‐diazabicyclo [5.4.0]undec‐7‐ene (DBU) and 1,5‐diazabicyclo[4.3.0] non‐5‐ene (DBN), were used for the chemical fixation of carbon dioxide. The promotion for CO₂ fixation is often reported through the formation of a thermally unstable DBU or DBN bicarbonate salt. To examine the effects of the DBU or DBN bicarbonate salt, reactions of 2‐aminobenzonitrile with the DBU salt or DBN salt in dimethylformamide (DMF) were performed at 20°C for 24 h in argon or carbon dioxide (0.1 MPa). However, in all the cases, 1H‐quinazoline‐2,4‐dione was not obtained completely. In contrast with room temperature reactions, 2‐aminobenzonitriles and DBU bicarbonate salt in DMF reacted for 4 h under high temperature (80°C) and CO₂ atmosphere (0.1 MPa) gave 1H‐quinazoline‐2,4‐diones in good to excellent yields. At high‐temperature conditions, DBU bicarbonate salt is decomposed to DBU and carbon dioxide. Also, the carbonylation of 2‐aminobenzonitrile using DBU and carbon dioxide afforded 1H‐quinazoline‐2,4‐dione in good yields under similar reaction conditions. These results suggest that the combination of DBU or DBN as a strong base and carbon dioxide is much more important than the in situ formation of DBU or DBN bicarbonate salt for the acceleration of CO₂ fixation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 23:276–280, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com . DOI 10.1002/hc.21014     

Spin polarization of β-emitting fragments in high energy heavy ions on Be collisions

The degrees of nuclear spin polarization of ^8,12B, ⁹C, ¹²N, ¹³O, ^20,21F, ²³Mg, ²⁷Si and ³⁹Ca produced in the high energy ^12,13C, ¹⁶O, ²²Ne, ²⁴Mg, ²⁸Si and ⁴⁰Ca ions on Be collisions have been measured systematically, for the technical developments of the nuclear moment studies as well as the hyperfine interaction studies by means of β-NMR technique. The fragment momentum dependences were well reproduced by the simple kinematical model. Incident energy dependence and the mass dependence as well as the reaction angle dependences were qualitatively explained by the mixing of the near and far side collisions. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fabrication and transport properties of multiwall carbon nanotube crossroads

A multiwall carbon nanotube crossroads has been fabricated by a manipulation technique using a glass microcapillary, and the low temperature transport properties investigated. The two-terminal conductance of an individual tube shows Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid behavior G∝T^α at high temperature and dI/dV ∝V ^α at low temperature. However, no evidence of such a power-law behavior is obtained in the four-terminal conductance at the junction, where the conductance shows an almost metallic behavior ‘corrected’ by weak localization. Weak localization would essentially appear in electron states at the junctions of MWNTs.     

Superacid‐catalyzed Friedel–Crafts phosphination of 2‐hydroxybiphenyls with phosphorus trichloride

Cyclic phosphorus compounds, 6H‐dibenz[c,e][1,2]oxaphosphorin‐6‐oxide derivatives, were efficiently synthesized by the Friedel–Crafts reaction of 2‐hydroxybiphenyls with phosphorus trichloride in the presence of superacids, especially trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TfOH) as a catalyst. TfOH was investigated for the first time as an effective catalyst for the aromatic phosphination of 2‐hydroxybiphenyls.