The extractives of Vitex lucens—I

Vitexin, isolated from Vitex lucens, has been formulated as C₂₁H₂₀O₁₀ and, in agreement with recent workers, structure (I) has been assigned to the compound. β-sitosterol has been isolated from the heartwood.     

Modeling phase separation in nonstoichiometric silica

We have modeled the decomposition of nonstoichiometric amorphous SiOx upon annealing into silicon and stoichiometric silica, using a new method based on mapping Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations onto rate equations. The concentrations of all oxidation states of silicon are derived as a function of time and found to attain steady-state values at long times dependent on temperature T and oxygen content x. The degree of phase separation and the sizes of Si particles are predicted as a function of T and x, enabling greater control over the size of silicon quantum dots in silica matrices.     

Ionization and recombination in intense, short electric field pulses

We investigate ionization and excitation of H(1s) in the limit of very short electric field pulses, analytically and numerically and both in the limit of small and extremely large peak electric fields. We identify a process of recombination akin to Rabi flopping from the continuum and give an analytic expression for this process after a single-cycle strong-field pulse.     

High‐Z Nanostructured Ceramics in Radiotherapy: First Evidence of Ta2O5‐Induced Dose Enhancement on Radioresistant Cancer Cells in an MV Photon Field

This article pioneers a study into the use of the tantalum pentoxide nanoceramics as novel candidates for dose enhancement radiotherapy. It is revealed that a significant induced dose enhancement on radioresistant cancer cells expose to tantalum pentoxide nanoparticles and irradiated with 10 MV. In this study, in vitro experiments are performed. The radiobiological endpoint is clonogenic survival. We exposed 9L gliosarcoma cells to the nanoparticles at 50–500 μg mL^?1 range and observed concentration‐dependent toxicity. Irradiation of the exposed and unexposed cells with 10 MV X‐ray photons reveals a sensitization enhancement ratio of 1.33. The associated cell survival curves demonstrate a significant change in shape, indicative of increased lethality of the local radiation environment. We postulate that this enhancement is primarily due to secondary electrons produced from photoelectric interaction and pair production, with backscattering on nanoparticle aggregates leading to increased radiobiological effectiveness.     

Connections to the Electrodes Control the Transport Mechanism in Single-Molecule Transistors

When designing a molecular electronic device for a specific function, it is necessary to control whether the charge-transport mechanism is phase-coherent transmission or particle-like hopping. Here we report a systematic study of charge transport through single zinc-porphyrin molecules embedded in graphene nanogaps to form transistors, and show that the transport mechanism depends on the chemistry of the molecule–electrode interfaces. We show that van der Waals interactions between molecular anchoring groups and graphene yield transport characteristic of Coulomb blockade with incoherent sequential hopping, whereas covalent molecule–electrode amide bonds give intermediately or strongly coupled single-molecule devices that display coherent transmission. These findings demonstrate the importance of interfacial engineering in molecular electronic circuits.     

THE VECTORIAL PHOTO-EXCITATION IN SOLAR-TRACKING LEAVES OF Lavatera cretica (MALVACEAE)*,†

Abstract— The diaphototropic responses of the solar-tracking leaves of Lavatera cretica were studied under constant levels of vectorial photo-excitation (negligible variations in angle of incidence and fluence rates). The results showed the following:
(a) The photoreceptors, that are associated with the (major) veins, can equally perceive vectorial excitation (by an oblique light-beam in the plane of symmetry of the vein), directed either towards its tip (tip-oriented: TO), or towards its base (base-oriented: BO).
(b) The mechanism of photo-perception is apparently qualitatively the same for TO and BO excitation.
(c) The response to TO and BO vectorial excitation, which takes place in a circular sheath of motor-cell tissue in the pulvinus (a2–3 mm long segment at the top of the petiole), is also highly directional and results in bending in the vertical plane of the oblique beam. Each sector of the motor tissue can expand longitudinally in response to TO excitation, presumably by influx of solutes, and contract longitudinally in response to BO excitation of the same vein, presumably by efflux of solutes.
(d) The angular velocity of the vectorial response to a constant level of vectorial excitation remains constant over large angular displacements and long periods, and was similar for TO and BO over a wide range of fluence rates (30-400 μmol m⁻²s⁻¹) of white light (400-700 nm).
(e) Reversal of the direction of vectorial excitation (TO to BO, and vice versa) results in reversal of the direction of the vectorial response (laminar reorientation). The change in the direction of laminar reorientation involved a larger overshoot in the original direction when the change was from BO to TO, than in the reverse case.     

Synthesis and reactivity of N@C60O

The endohedral fullerene epoxide N@C60O was synthesised, isolated by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and characterised by Electron Spin Resonance (ESR). This nitrogen radical displays predominantly axial symmetry characteristics as expected for a monoadduct, evidenced by a zero-field splitting D parameter of 6.6 MHz and an E parameter of 0.5 MHz in powder at 77 K. Photo- and thermally-activated silencing of the nitrogen radical were observed, the latter showing the evolution of a new spin signal during heating at 100 degrees C. We suggest that loss of nitrogen spin is due to coupling with a radical formed by opening of the epoxide ring. This implies that the reaction of C60O with C60 in the solid state proceeds via a radical, rather than ionic, intermediate.