Intramolecular Cyclization of 1-(ω-Phenylalkyl)-2-(nitromethylene)pyrrolidines in Triflic Acid

1-(ω-Phenylalkyl)-2-(nitromethylene)pyrrolidines in triflic acid undergo a C,O-diprotonation, followed by loss of water, to form conjugated iminium–hydroxynitrilium dications, which react with the tethered phenyl ring by electrophilic aromatic substitution to afford tricyclic iminium compounds as triflate salts. The scope and mechanism of this reaction are discussed.     

Use of ultra-performance liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry with nozzle-skimmer fragmentation for comprehensive quantitative analysis of secondary metabolites in Arabidopsis thaliana

This study sought to develop techniques for LC/MS-based metabolomics and to verify that an MS/MS spectral tag (MS2T) could be used in practical secondary metabolite profiling. The retention time (RT), precursor ions, and fragment ions generated by nozzle-skimmer fragmentation were determined using ultra-performance liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/TOF-MS) and compared with the MS2T. A standard mix was analyzed with UPLC/TOF-MS under the same conditions as were used to construct the MS2T. The difference in RT for the standards was less than 0.15 min and the average RSD was about 2.8%, suggesting that the analysis was highly repeatable. Both precursor ions and fragment ions were observed when the cone voltage was 75 V. Experimental data and fragmentation pattern in the MS2T annotation list were highly similar. Wild-type and cas-1 mutant Arabidopsis thaliana samples treated with an elicitor were analyzed using UPLC/TOF-MS. Sixty-five peaks were successfully annotated. Fragment ions were observed with nozzle-skimmer fragmentation in 50 of 65 (77%) peaks. The reliability of annotation may have increased as a result of fragment ions. Results of multivariate analysis suggested that cas-1 was related to induction of the biosynthesis of these flavonoids. The devised method facilitated practical secondary metabolite profiling.     

Development of a polar lipid profiling method by supercritical fluid chromatography/mass spectrometry

We established a high-throughput and high-resolution analytical method based on supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) for the simultaneous profiling of diverse polar lipids in a mixture. Trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatization was used for the analysis of ten polar lipids: phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidic acid (PA), phosphatidylinositol (PI), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE), lysophosphatidylglycerol (LPG), lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI), sphingomyeline (SM), and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). Using the developed method, the peak tailings of PA, PI, LPA, LPI, and S1P improved, and the limit of detection of PG, PI, LPA, LPI, and S1P was enhanced by 12-, 40-, 510-, 39-, and 1490-fold, respectively. Next, in the analysis of sheep plasma, 20 minor species of PI, LPC, LPE, and SM, and 7 molecular species of LPA, LPI, and S1P were additionally analyzed. The relative ratio of the molecular species in each polar lipid was also found by quantification. Finally, the simultaneous and detail profiling of ten polar lipids was successfully performed by SFC/MS applying TMS derivatization. This developed method is particularly applicable to metabolomics, especially for targeting polar lipids.     

Optical travelator: transport and dynamic sorting of colloidal microspheres with an asymmetrical line optical tweezers

We report the transport, funnelling and dynamic sorting of colloidal microspheres in an aqueous suspension using line optical tweezers with asymmetrical intensity profiles. The line tweezers readily trapped and propelled the microspheres along the length of the line tweezers. Using this simple technique, transporting and funnelling of microspheres within a microscopic region were demonstrated. To illustrate the dynamic particle-sorting capability of the line tweezers, a binary colloidal system comprising of microspheres with diameters of 1.1 μm and 3.2 μm were driven past the line tweezers by electrophoresis. As the optical trapping force is dependent on the size of the microspheres, the line tweezers was able to change the path of the larger spheres while exerting little influence on the smaller spheres thus sorting the two types of microspheres. At optimized laser power and flow rate of microspheres, sorting efficiency greater than 90% has been achieved. PACS 42.15.Eq; 87.80.Cc; 87.80.Fe; 82.70.Dd     

Critical Homogenization of SDEs Driven by a Levy Process in Random Medium

We are concerned with homogenization of stochastic differential equations (SDE) with stationary coefficients driven by Poisson random measures and Brownian motions in the critical case, that is, when the limiting equation admits both a Brownian part as well as a pure jump part. We state an annealed convergence theorem. This problem is deeply connected with homogenization of integral partial differential equations.     

Hypermagnetic baryogenesis

We study a new scenario for baryogenesis due to the spontaneous breaking of the CPT   invariance through the interaction between a baryon current and a hypermagnetic helicity. The hypermagnetic helicity (Chern–Simons number) of UY₍₁₎$U{(1)}_Y$ provides a CPT violation background for the generation of baryons via sphaleron processes, which protects these baryons from the sphaleron wash-out effect in thermal equilibrium. It is shown that if the present amplitude of the resultant magnetic fields are sufficiently large, for a wide range mass scale (from TeV to the Planck scale), the observational magnitude of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe can be realized.     

Impact of Thermal Fluctuations on Logarithmic Corrected Massive Gravity Charged Black Hole

We investigate the influence of the first-order correction of entropy caused by thermal quantum fluctuations on the thermodynamics of a logarithmic corrected charged black hole in massive gravity. For this black hole, we explore the thermodynamic quantities, such as entropy, Helmholtz free energy, internal energy, enthalpy, Gibbs free energy and specific heat. We discuss the influence of the topology of the event horizon, dimensions and nonlinearity parameter on the local and global stability of the black hole. As a result, it is found that the holographic dual parameter vanishes. This means that the thermal corrections have no significant role to disturb the holographic duality of the logarithmic charged black hole in massive gravity, although the thermal corrections have a substantial impact on the thermodynamic quantities in the high-energy limit and the stability conditions of black holes.     

Highly sensitive and accurate profiling of carotenoids by supercritical fluid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry

We attempted to establish a high‐speed and high‐resolution profiling method for a carotenoid mixture as a highly selective and highly sensitive detection method; the analysis was carried out by supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS). When an octadecyl‐bonded silica (ODS) particle‐packed column was used for separation, seven carotenoids including structural isomers were successfully separated within 15 min. This result indicated not only improved separation but also improved throughput compared to the separation and throughput in RP‐HPLC. The use of a monolithic ODS column resulted in additional improvement in both the resolution and the throughput; the analysis time was reduced to 4 min by increasing the flow rate. Furthermore, carotenoids in biological samples containing the complex matrices were separated effectively by using several monolithic columns whose back pressure was very low. The mass spectrometer allowed us to perform a more sensitive analysis than UV detection; the detection limit of each carotenoid was 50 pg or below. This is the first report of carotenoid analysis carried out by SFC‐MS. The profiling method developed in this study will be a powerful tool for carrying out accurate profiling of biological samples.     

Observational constraints on the jerk parameter with the data of the Hubble parameter

We study the accelerated expansion phase of the universe by using the kinematic approach. In particular, the deceleration parameter q is parametrized in a model-independent way. Considering a generalized parametrization for q, we first obtain the jerk parameter j (a dimensionless third time derivative of the scale factor) and then confront it with cosmic observations. We use the latest observational dataset of the Hubble parameter H(z) consisting of 41 data points in the redshift range of \(0.07 \le z \le 2.36\), larger than the redshift range that covered by the Type Ia supernova. We also acquire the current values of the deceleration parameter \(q_0\), jerk parameter \(j_0\) and transition redshift \(z_t\) (at which the expansion of the universe switches from being decelerated to accelerated) with \(1\sigma \) errors (\(68.3\%\) confidence level). As a result, it is demonstrate that the universe is indeed undergoing an accelerated expansion phase following the decelerated one. This is consistent with the present observations. Moreover, we find the departure for the present model from the standard \(\Lambda \)CDM model according to the evolution of j. Furthermore, the evolution of the normalized Hubble parameter is shown for the present model and it is compared with the dataset of H(z).     

Energy conditions in modified <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">G</Emphasis>) gravity

In this paper, we have considered flat Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric in the framework of perfect fluid models and modified f(G) gravity (where G is the Gauss Bonnet invariant). Particularly, we have considered particular realistic f(G) configurations that could be used to cure finite-time future singularities arising in the late-time cosmic accelerating epochs. We have then developed the viability bounds of these models induced by weak and null energy conditions, by using the recent estimated numerical figures of the deceleration, Hubble, snap and jerk parameters.