Rapid method for the determination of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in Gochujang using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography

A sensitive and specific heating block method coupled with ultra-HPLC (u-HPLC) was developed for the analysis of capsaicin in Gochujang and validated by comparing with a conventional HPLC (AOAC Method 995.03). The method validation parameters yielded good results, including linearity, precision, accuracy, and recovery. The u-HPLC separation was performed on a reversed C18 column (50 x 2 mm id, particle size 2 microm), followed by fluorescence detection (excitation 280 nm, emission 325 nm). Methanol was used as the extracting solvent, and the amount of sample taken was approximately 0.2 g; the optimum amount of extraction solvent and extraction time were 15 mL and 1 h, respectively. The recovery of capsaicin in Gochujang was more than 93%, and the LOD and LOQ of the u-HPLC analysis were 0.05 and 0.16 microg/g for capsaicin and 0.05 and 0.16 microg/g for dihydrocapsaicin. The calibration graphs for capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin were linear from 0.2 to 10.0 microg/mL for u-HPLC. The interday and intraday precisions (RSD values) were < 6.27%.     

Femtosecond carrier relaxation dynamics and photoinduced phase separation in κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]X (X=Br,Cl)

We investigate the relaxation dynamics of nonequilibrium carriers in organic conductors κ-(BEDT-TTF)(2)Cu[N(CN)(2)]X (X=Br and Cl) using ultrafast time-resolved optical spectroscopy. The dynamics for both salts show similar temperature dependences, which is well characterized by the carrier relaxation across the pseudogap (PG) of the magnitude Δ(PG) ≈ 16 meV for Br salt and 7.0 meV for Cl salt. On the other hand, only the Br salt shows an abrupt increase of the decay time at low temperature, indicating an additional decay component associated with the superconducting (SC) gap below T(c). The fluence dependent dynamics at low temperature evidences the superposition of the SC component onto the PG component. These results indicate a metallic-insulating phase separation in the Br salt triggered by photoexcited nonequilibrium carriers.     

Measurement of an Efimov trimer binding energy in a three-component mixture of 6Li

The binding energy of an Efimov trimer state was precisely determined via radio-frequency association. It is found that the measurement results shift significantly with temperature, but that the shift becomes negligible at the lowest temperature in our experiment. The shift-free part of the trimer binding energy reveals a significant deviation from the nonuniversal theory prediction based on a three-body parameter with a monotonic binding-energy dependence.     

Numerical Nahm transform for 2-caloron solutions

A new numerical method for performing the Nahm transform for charge k=2 caloron is presented. The Weyl equations with boundary impurities are solved directly and the determination of the appropriate basis to the linear system is established. The action densities of the 2-calorons with 10 moduli parameters are shown.     

Structure and Kinetics of Desolvation of 2-Hexanone Inclusion Compounds of the Hexapedal Hosts, Hexakis(3-hydroxy-3,3-diphenyl-2-propynyl)benzene and 1,2,3,5,6,7-Hexakis(3-hydroxy-3,3-diphenyl-2-propynyl)naphthalene

The 2-hexanone inclusion compounds of hexakis(3-hydroxy-3,3-diphenyl-2-propynyl)benzene and 1,2,3,5,6,7-hexakis(3-hydroxy-3,3-diphenyl-2-propynyl)naphthalene have been prepared and characterised by single crystal X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis. The kinetic parameters and mechanisms for the desolvation reaction have also been determined for both compounds.     

Gas collection efficiency of annular denuders: A spreadsheet-based calculator

Denuders are widely used for atmospheric analysis. Annular denuders are especially well-suited for preconcentration of trace gases compared to simpler single tube designs. While traditionally coated annular denuders have both bounding surfaces that behave as sinks, annular denuders/membrane-based scrubbers with the same basic geometric design and with only one of the annular surfaces functioning as sink (e.g., a membrane tube whose outer surface behaves as a sink disposed within an inert jacket tube) have become common. However, the gas collection efficiency of such devices cannot be expressed as a simple equation with fixed constants and there is no presently available tool to a priori determine the denuder performance or to design denuders with specific removal efficiencies at specific sampling rates. This paper presents a simple to use “spreadsheet calculator” for concentric annular denuders of any dimension based on known solutions to analogous heat transfer problems. The results from the present spreadsheet calculator are compared with results from a commercial computational fluid dynamics package (Fluent™; this takes significant expertise and development effort to run)—the two approaches produce essentially the same results. The present spreadsheet calculator can be used easily and simply without training and will be a useful tool for denuder users and designers.     

A stereoselective cyclisation cascade mediated by SmI2–H2O: synthetic studies towards stolonidiol

A cascade reaction involving sequential conjugate reduction, stereoselective aldol cyclisation and chemoselective lactone reduction mediated by SmI₂–H₂O provides access to a cyclopentanol bearing two vicinal quaternary stereocentres with good stereocontrol. The functionalised cyclopentanol product has been converted to a key intermediate in ongoing asymmetric studies towards stolonidiol.     

Enhancement of the electrocatalytic O2 reduction on Pt–Fe alloys

The design of high performance cathode electrocatalysts is essential for polymer–electrolyte fuel cells, which are now attracting enormous interest as a primary power source for zero-emission electric vehicles. We have discovered a significant enhancement of electrocatalytic activity of Pt by alloying with Fe, and found a maximum activity at ca. 50% Fe content, which results in 25 times higher activity than pure Pt activity. It was confirmed experimentally at Pt–Fe bulk alloys that the alloy catalyst surface consists of a pure Pt skin-layer (<1 nm in thickness) that is modified in the electronic structure by that of the bulk alloy. The enhancement could be well explained by the 5d-vacancy of the surface, but not by Pt interatomic distance or roughening of the surfaces.     

Hardness measures for gridworld benchmarks and performance analysis of real-time heuristic search algorithms

Gridworlds are one of the most popular settings used in benchmark problems for real-time heuristic search algorithms. However, no comprehensive studies have been published so far on how the difference in the density of randomly positioned obstacles affects the hardness of the problems. This paper presents two measures for characterizing the hardness of gridworld problems parameterized by obstacle ratio, and relates them to the performance of the algorithms. We empirically show that the peak locations of those measures and actual performance degradation of the basic algorithms (RTA* and LRTA*) almost coincide with each other for a wide variety of problem settings. Thus the measures uncover some interesting aspects of the gridworlds.     

Orbital stability of solitary waves for a higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation

We show by the variational method that there exist orbitally stable solitary waves of a higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which describes the propagation of pulses in optical fibres.