Stereoselective synthesis of the C14-C24 degraded fragment of symbiodinolide

Symbiodinolide is a polyol macrolide isolated from the marine dinoflagellate Symbiodinium sp. in 2007. The C14-C24 fragment of symbiodinolide possessing the 17R/18R/21R absolute configuration, which was obtained as one of the degraded products of symbiodinolide, was synthesized stereoselectively from cis-2-butene-1,4-diol. The detailed comparison of the synthetic product with the degraded product in the spectroscopic data confirmed that the stereostructure of the C14-C24 fragment was 17R, 18R, and 21R.     

Magnetic anisotropy of Sm2Fe14B single crystal

Magnetization measurements have been made on a Sm₂Fe₁₄B single crystal in magnetic fields up to 140 kOe. The easy direction of the magnetization lies along [100] in the tetragonal structure P4₂/mnm. Magnetic anisotropy energies at 290K along [110] and [001] have been estimated to be 5.8×10⁶ and 1.1×10⁸ erg/cm³, respectively, both becoming much larger at lower temperature. No evidence of the spin canting of Nd₂Fe₁₄B type is observed even at 4.2K.     

Monolithic silica columns with various skeleton sizes and through-pore sizes for capillary liquid chromatography

Reduction of through-pore size and skeleton size of a monolithic silica column was attempted to provide high separation efficiency in a short time. Monolithic silica columns were prepared to have various sizes of skeletons (approximately 1-2 microm) and through-pores (approximately 2-8 microm) in a fused-silica capillary (50-200 microm I.D.). The columns were evaluated in HPLC after derivatization to C18 phase. It was possible to prepare monolithic silica structures in capillaries of up to 200 microm I.D. from a mixture of tetramethoxysilane and methyltrimethoxysilane. As expected, a monolithic silica column with smaller domain size showed higher column efficiency and higher pressure drop. High external porosity (> 80%) and large through-pores resulted in high permeability (K = 8 x 10(-14) -1.3 x 10(-12) m2) that was 2-30 times higher than that of a column packed with 5-mirom silica particles. The monolithic silica columns prepared in capillaries produced a plate height of about 8-12 microm with an 80% aqueous acetonitrile mobile phase at a linear velocity of 1 mm/s. Separation impedance, E, was found to be as low as 100 under optimum conditions, a value about an order of magnitude lower than reported for conventional columns packed with 5-microm particles. Although a column with smaller domain size generally resulted in higher separation impedance and the lower total performance, the monolithic silica columns showed performance beyond the limit of conventional particle-packed columns under pressure-driven conditions.     

Polydimethylsiloxane connection for quartz microchips in a high-pressure system.

An interconnecting technique, the "PDMS connection method", for quartz microchips in a high-pressure system is presented. The connection between quartz microchips is an essential technology for modular microfluidic devices, such as microchip-HPLC. PDMS was applied to the seal material, being spread on the seal side of the chips, and set into the metal housing. The characteristics of the PDMS connection method concerning pressure resistance and the extension of the peak were examined. The experimental results showed a good seal at 5 MPa, which seem to be sufficient for realizing microchip-HPLC utilizing a monolithic silica capillary column as a separation medium. The influence of the extra column effect on chromatographic separation was almost the same as in the case using a commercial union fitting. In addition, the PDMS connection enabled the detachability of chip-based modules with user-friendliness. Our experimental findings suggest that the novel PDMS connection method can possibly be applied as a generic technology in high-pressure microTAS.     

Asymptotic Solutions of Hamilton-Jacobi Equations with State Constraints

We study Hamilton-Jacobi equations in a bounded domain with the state constraint boundary condition. We establish a general convergence result for viscosity solutions of the Cauchy problem for Hamilton-Jacobi equations with the state constraint boundary condition to asymptotic solutions as time goes to infinity.     

Fabrication of well‐aligned electrospun nanofibrous membrane based on fluorinated polyimide

We have fabricated novel nanofibrous fluorinated polyimide membranes on a specially designed collector, which is composed of conductive aluminum plates and glass insulator materials and can be removed from the apparatus, using an electrospinning method. We describe the structure and water flux properties of the nanofibrous fluorinated polyimide membranes. The electrospun nanofibers were deposited across the plates and uniaxially aligned to the collector. In addition, the multi‐layer stacked nanofibrous membranes, consisting of three‐dimensionally ordered nanopores, were produced. The pure water fluxes for the stacked membranes were measured, using a stirred dead‐end filtration cell, and were linearly decreased with an increasing deposition time, indicating that the nanopores formed in the nanofibrous membrane were further narrowed due to the regularly accumulated nanofibers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A dynamical approach to the large-time behavior of solutions to weakly coupled systems of Hamilton–Jacobi equations

We investigate the large-time behavior of the value functions of the optimal control problems on the n-dimensional torus which appear in the dynamic programming for the system whose states are governed by random changes. From the point of view of the study on partial differential equations, it is equivalent to consider viscosity solutions of quasi-monotone weakly coupled systems of Hamilton–Jacobi equations. The large-time behavior of viscosity solutions of this problem has been recently studied by the authors and Camilli, Ley, Loreti, and Nguyen for some special cases, independently, but the general cases remain widely open. We establish a convergence result to asymptotic solutions as time goes to infinity under rather general assumptions by using dynamical properties of value functions.     

Electrochemical analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms of p53 gene

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of cancer repression gene p53 were analyzed electrochemically with ferrocenyl naphthalene diimide (1) as a hybridization indicator. The SNPs studied were the transition to A from G in the codon for amino acid at positions 175, 248 or 273 and the transversion to C from G in the codon for the amino acid at position 72. Thus, 20-meric oligonucleotides carrying the SNP site were used both as a sample and a probe with the latter immobilized on an electrode. Even one base difference on the p53 gene resulted in a significant difference in the current response of 1 and the magnitude of the response correlated with the amount of the DNA hybrid on the electrode. Moreover, when PCR products of exon 4, on which the P72/R72 SNP resides, of the p53 gene were analyzed by this method, the heterozygote and homozygotes were discriminated with modest precision.     

A PDE Approach to Large-Time Asymptotics for Boundary-Value Problems for Nonconvex Hamilton–Jacobi Equations

We investigate the large-time behavior of three types of initial-boundary value problems for Hamilton–Jacobi Equations with nonconvex Hamiltonians. We consider the Neumann or oblique boundary condition, the state constraint boundary condition and Dirichlet boundary condition. We establish general convergence results for viscosity solutions to asymptotic solutions as time goes to infinity via an approach based on PDE techniques. These results are obtained not only under general conditions on the Hamiltonians but also under weak conditions on the domain and the oblique direction of reflection in the Neumann case.