Dinuclear macrocyclic palladium complexes having pincer coordinating groups and their catalytic properties in Mizoroki-Heck reactions

An improved synthetic method of palladium(II) dinuclear macrocyclic complexes have been described. Each of the two isomers of the complexes [Pd₂LBr₂] has a macrocyclic ligand L in which two 2,6-bis(diaminomethyl)phenyl units coordinate to the Pd(II) centers with N, C, N donor atoms. Substitution of the bromo ligands of one of the isomer of the complexes with acetonitrile ligands affords a new dinuclear complex. Catalytic activities of these complexes were studied for the Mizoroki-Heck type reactions of iodobenzene and styrene. High turnover number up to 30,000 was achieved using one of the isomer of the complexes.     

Fluidic shear-assisted formation of actuating multilamellar lipid tubes using microfabricated nozzle array device

Molecular self-assemblies exhibiting automatic motions have received much attention as potential artificial models of living organisms. We have developed a microfluidic picolitre nozzle-array device to form multilamellar lipid tubes (MLTs) under fluidic shear stress, which transformed into different two patterns (yarn-balls and double-helixes) and also exhibited unique self-actuation behaviors.     

Predicting the Classification of Home Oxygen Therapy for Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation Patients Using a Neural Network

Objective: We evaluated the accuracy of a neural network to classify and predict the possibility of home oxygen therapy at the time of discharge from hospital based on patient information post-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at admission. Methods: Patients who survived acute treatment with COVID-19 and were admitted to the Amagasaki Medical Co-operative Hospital during August 2020–December 2021 were included. However, only rehabilitation patients (n = 88) who were discharged after a rehabilitation period of at least 2 weeks and not via home or institution were included. The neural network model implemented in R for Windows (4.1.2) was trained using data on patient age, gender, and number of days between a positive polymerase chain reaction test and hospitalization, length of hospital stay, oxygen flow rate required at hospitalization, and ability to perform activities of daily living. The number of training trials was 100. We used the area under the curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity as evaluation indicators for the classification model. Results: The model of states at rest had as AUC of 0.82, sensitivity of 75.0%, specificity of 88.9%, and model accuracy of 86.4%. The model of states on exertion had an ACU of 0.82, sensitivity of 83.3%, specificity of 81.3%, and model accuracy of 81.8%. Conclusion: The accuracy of this study’s neural network model is comparable to that of previous studies recommended by Japanese Guidelines for the Physical Therapy and is expected to be used in clinical practice. In future, it could be used as a more accurate clinical support tool by increasing the sample size and applying cross-validation.     

Observation of micropores in hard-carbon using Xe NMR porosimetry

The existence of micropores and the change of surface structure in pitch-based hard-carbon in xenon atmosphere were demonstrated using ¹²⁹Xe NMR. For high-pressure (4.0 MPa) ¹²⁹Xe NMR measurements, the hard-carbon samples in Xe gas showed three peaks at 27, 34 and 210 ppm. The last was attributed to the xenon in micropores (<1 nm) in hard-carbon particles. The NMR spectrum of a sample evacuated at 773 K and exposed to 0.1 MPa Xe gas at 773 K for 24 h showed two peaks at 29 and 128 ppm, which were attributed, respectively, to the xenon atoms adsorbed in the large pores (probably mesopores) and micropores of hard-carbon. With increasing annealing time in Xe gas at 773 K, both peaks shifted and merged into one peak at 50 ppm. The diffusion of adsorbed xenon atoms is very slow, probably because the transfer of molecules or atoms among micropores in hard-carbon does not occur readily. Many micropores are isolated from the outer surface. For that reason, xenon atoms are thought to be adsorbed only by micropores near the surface, which are easily accessible from the surrounding space.     

Polarized target asymmetry in π° photoproduction between 0.4 and 1.0 GeV around 100°

The polarized target asymmetry in the reaction γp→π°p has been measured at c.m. angles around 100° for photon energies between 0.4 and 1.0 GeV by detecting both the recoil proton and the π°. The result is compared with recent analyses.     

Intermolecular core-potential depth versus critical temperature

Two constants, U₀ and ?₀, characterizing the convex-core potential of intermolecular forces are revised on the basis of a new compilation of virial coefficients of gases by Dymond and Smith. The mean potential depths U₀ for non-polar gases are compared with the critical temperatures. T_c.     

Adiabatic treatment of inelastic deuteron-nucleus scattering

Inelastic scattering of 80 MeV deuterons from ⁵⁸Ni and ¹²⁰Sn is analyzed in terms of an adiabatic coupled-channels Born approximation (ACCBA) method. The ACCBA method is a practical means to treat deuteron plus nucleus as a three-body system. Inclusion of the breakup modes significantly reduces the inelastic cross section. The significance of considering both the s-wave and d-wave breakup modes is pointed out.