Direct two-step spin-crossover through [HS-HS]...[LS-LS] at the plateau in dinuclear diiron(II) complex [{Fe(NCBH3)(4phpy)}2(mu-bpypz)2

The variable temperature magnetic susceptibility, X-ray crystallography, and IR and Raman spectra of a new dinuclear complex [{Fe(II)(NCBH(3))(4-phpy)}(2) mu-bpypz)(2)] demonstrated the first two-step spin-crossover associated with a 1 : 1 mixture of high-spin pair [HS-HS] and low-spin pair [LS-LS] at the plateau.     

First results from KamLAND: evidence for reactor antineutrino disappearance

KamLAND has measured the flux of nu;(e)'s from distant nuclear reactors. We find fewer nu;(e) events than expected from standard assumptions about nu;(e) propagation at the 99.95% C.L. In a 162 ton.yr exposure the ratio of the observed inverse beta-decay events to the expected number without nu;(e) disappearance is 0.611+/-0.085(stat)+/-0.041(syst) for nu;(e) energies >3.4 MeV. In the context of two-flavor neutrino oscillations with CPT invariance, all solutions to the solar neutrino problem except for the "large mixing angle" region are excluded.     

Efficient transport of saccharides through a liquid membrane mediated by a cyclodextrin dimer

A new efficient system for transporting saccharides through a liquid membrane has been constructed. The transport rates of saccharides were accelerated greatly by the cyclodextrin dimer 2; by contrast, the corresponding cyclodextrin monomer 1 was not effective at mediating saccharide transport. The transport rate of D-ribose through a chloroform liquid membrane was 17 times faster when the cyclodextrin dimer 2 was used as the transporter than when the cyclodextrin monomer 1 was used. Similarly the transport rate of methyl D-galactopyranoside was 16 times faster by 2 than by 1.     

Solid-phase synthesis of HTLV-1 protease inhibitors containing hydroxyethylamine dipeptide isostere

An efficient method has been developed for the first solid-phase synthesis of HTLV-1 protease inhibitors that contain hydroxyethylamine isostere as a transition-state mimetic. The synthetic procedure was designed to allow the evaluation of stereostructure-activity relationships at the scissile site. All the possible configurations at the hydroxy- and side chain-bearing asymmetric centers of the isostere were constructed by an ester-derived asymmetric aldol reaction. Each inhibitor containing the isostere backbone was synthesized on solid support by using the newly developed succinate ester linker. The configuration at the hydroxy- and side chain-bearing asymmetric center showed remarkable effects on the inhibitory activity; the K(i) value changed with approximately 2 orders of magnitude. The described approach enables an efficient preparation of the inhibitors containing secondary alcohol as a transition-state mimetic.     

Long rod-like array of bis(imidazolyl)porphyrinatocobalt(III) by successive complementary coordination

Simple bis(imidazolyl)porphyrin cobalt(III) complex was found to form a long polymeric array by complementary coordination of imidazole to cobalt ion. Formation of higher ordered assemblies was also observed.     

Facile deposition of [60]fullerene on the electrode by electrochemical oxidative polymerization of thiophene

It was found that [60]fullerene encapsulated in anionic calix[8]arenes can be readily deposited by electrochemical oxidative polymerization of ethylenedioxythiophene: the resultant electrode generates a photocurrent wave (ca. 100 nA cm(-2)) in response to visible light irradiation.     

First successful molecular design of an artificial Lewis oligosaccharide binding system utilizing positive homotropic allosterism

We have designed phenylboronic acid group appended Ce(IV) bis(porphyrinate) double decker 1 and meso-meso linked porphyrin 2, useful for the allosteric binding of biologically important saccharides, Lewis oligosaccharides. Compound 1 binds Lewis oligosaccharides in aqueous media because of the boronic acid-diol interaction, but the complexation event can occur only above the critical concentrations because of the sigmoidal [oligosaccharide] versus [complex] isotherm. Compound 1 has a sufficiently high affinity with Lewis oligosaccharides (K = 10(5)-10(6) M(-2)) with Hill coefficients n of 1.8-2.0, and Lewis(X) series and Lewis(a) series give opposite, symmetrical CD spectra. This is the first example of efficient binding of Lewis oligosaccharides to the artificial receptor, which has become possible by positive homotropic allosterism.     

Reduction of ion thermal diffusivity associated with the transition of the radial electric field in neutral-beam-heated plasmas in the large helical device

Recent large helical device experiments revealed that the transition from ion root to electron root occurred for the first time in neutral-beam-heated discharges, where no nonthermal electrons exist. The measured values of the radial electric field were found to be in qualitative agreement with those estimated by neoclassical theory. A clear reduction of ion thermal diffusivity was observed after the mode transition from ion root to electron root as predicted by neoclassical theory when the neoclassical ion loss is more dominant than the anomalous ion loss.     

Observation of the "self-healing" of an error field island in the large helical device

It was observed that the vacuum magnetic island produced by an external error magnetic field in the large helical device shrank in the presence of plasma. This was evidenced by the disappearance of flat regions in the electron temperature profile obtained by Thomson scattering. This island behavior depended on the magnetic configuration in which the plasmas were produced.     

Network formed by traces of random walks

We propose a model of time evolving networks in which a kind of transport between vertices generates new edges in the graph. We call the model “Network formed by traces of random walks”, because the transports are represented abstractly by random walks. Our numerical calculations yield several important properties observed commonly in complex networks, although the graph at initial time is only a one-dimensional lattice. For example, the distribution of vertex degree exhibits various behaviors such as exponential, power law like, and bi-modal distribution according to change of probability of extinction of edges. Another property such as strong clustering structure and small mean vertex–vertex distance can also be found. The transports represented by random walks in a framework of strong links between regular lattice is a new mechanisms which yields biased acquisition of links for vertices.