Both electron and hole Dirac cone states in Ba(FeAs)2 confirmed by magnetoresistance

Quantum transport of Dirac cone states in the iron pnictide Ba(FeAs)(2) with a d-multiband system is studied by using single crystal samples. Transverse magnetoresistance develops linearly against the magnetic field at low temperatures. The transport phenomena are interpreted in terms of the zeroth Landau level by applying the theory predicted by Abrikosov. The results of the semiclassical analyses of a two carrier system in a low magnetic field limit show that both the electron and hole reside as the high mobility states. Our results show that pairs of electron and hole Dirac cone states must be taken into account for an accurate interpretation in iron pnictides, which is in contrast with previous studies.     

Bound H dibaryon in flavor SU(3) limit of lattice QCD

The flavor-singlet H dibaryon, which has strangeness -2 and baryon number 2, is studied by the approach recently developed for the baryon-baryon interactions in lattice QCD. The flavor-singlet central potential is derived from the spatial and imaginary-time dependence of the Nambu-Bethe-Salpeter wave function measured in N(f)=3 full QCD simulations with the lattice size of L?2,3,4 fm. The potential is found to be insensitive to the volume, and it leads to a bound H dibaryon with the binding energy of 30-40 MeV for the pseudoscalar meson mass of 673-1015 MeV.     

Bulk superconducting phase with a full energy gap in the doped topological insulator Cu(x)Bi₂Se₃

The superconductivity recently found in the doped topological insulator Cu(x)Bi?Se? offers a great opportunity to search for a topological superconductor. We have successfully prepared a single-crystal sample with a large shielding fraction and measured the specific-heat anomaly associated with the superconductivity. The temperature dependence of the specific heat suggests a fully gapped, strong-coupling superconducting state, but the BCS theory is not in full agreement with the data, which hints at a possible unconventional pairing in Cu(x)Bi?Se?. Also, the evaluated effective mass of 2.6m(e) (m(e) is the free electron mass) points to a large mass enhancement in this material.     

Smectogenic properties of N,N′‐bis[(2‐hydroxy‐4‐alkoxyphenyl)methylene]benzene‐1,4‐diamine liquid crystals with double lateral H‐bonds

A series of eight liquid crystalline compounds, N,N′‐bis[(2‐hydroxy‐4‐alkoxyphenyl)methylene]benzene‐1,4‐diamines, has been synthesized and characterized. These homologous compounds differ in the length of terminal alkyl group C _n H_2n+1 wherein n is an even number ranging from 4 to 18. The spectroscopic techniques, FTIR, ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR, were employed to characterize the molecular structure. The transition temperatures of all the title compounds and their mesophases were studied by differential scanning calorimetry and polarizing microscopy. All the compounds were smectogenic, exhibiting both tilted and non‐tilted molecular orientation in their smectic phases. Further investigation to ascertain the anisotropic nature of subphases within the smectogenic region was carried out using X‐ray diffraction.     

Sobolev Trace Theorem and the Dirichlet Problem in the Unit Disk

We give a direct and elementary proof for the trace theorem in L _p -based Sobolev spaces, when the domain is the unit disk. We also consider the Dirichlet boundary problem for the Laplace equation, where the boundary value is a function in the Besov space. The Poisson kernel enables us to solve this problem in the unit disk more easily than in a general domain.     

The photoreaction of the photoactive yellow protein domain in the light sensor histidine kinase Ppr is influenced by the C-terminal domains

To study the role of the C-terminal domains in the photocycle of a light sensor histidine kinase (Ppr) having a photoactive yellow protein (PYP) domain as the photosensor domain, we analyzed the photocycles of the PYP domain of Ppr (Ppr-PYP) and full-length Ppr. The gene fragment for Ppr-PYP was expressed in Escherichia coli, and it was chemically reconstituted with p-coumaric acid; the full-length gene of Ppr was coexpressed with tyrosine ammonia-lyase and p-coumaric acid ligase for biosynthesis in cells. The light/dark difference spectra of Ppr-PYP were pH sensitive. They were represented as a linear combination of two independent difference spectra analogous to the PYP(L)/dark and PYP(M)/dark difference spectra of PYP from Halorhodospira halophila, suggesting that the pH dependence of the difference spectra is explained by the equilibrium shift between the PYP(L)- and PYP(M)-like intermediates. The light/dark difference spectrum of Ppr showed the equilibrium shift toward PYP(L) compared with that of Ppr-PYP. Kinetic measurements of the photocycles of Ppr and Ppr-PYP revealed that the C-terminal domains accelerate the recovery of the dark state. These observations suggest an interaction between the C-terminal domains and the PYP domain during the photocycle, by which light signals captured by the PYP domain are transferred to the C-terminal domains.     

Supercritical fluid extraction and ultra performance liquid chromatography of respiratory quinones for microbial community analysis in environmental and biological samples

Microbial community structure plays a significant role in environmental assessment and animal health management. The development of a superior analytical strategy for the characterization of microbial community structure is an ongoing challenge. In this study, we developed an effective supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method for the analysis of bacterial respiratory quinones (RQ) in environmental and biological samples. RQ profile analysis is one of the most widely used culture-independent tools for characterizing microbial community structure. A UPLC equipped with a photo diode array (PDA) detector was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of ubiquinones (UQ) and menaquinones (MK) without tedious pretreatment. Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO(2)) extraction with the solid-phase cartridge trap proved to be a more effective and rapid method for extracting respiratory quinones, compared to a conventional organic solvent extraction method. This methodology leads to a successful analytical procedure that involves a significant reduction in the complexity and sample preparation time. Application of the optimized methodology to characterize microbial communities based on the RQ profile was demonstrated for a variety of environmental samples (activated sludge, digested sludge, and compost) and biological samples (swine and Japanese quail feces).     

Anion-controlled circular dichroism spectral changes in Hg2+ complexes with a chiral bidentate ligand

Anion-controlled circular dichroism (CD) spectral changes in Hg(2+) complexes with a chiral bidentate ligand are reported. Although the Hg(CF(3)SO(3))(2) and Hg(CF(3)CO(2))(2) complexes with (R)-(-)-1-(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N-bis(pyridin-4-ylmethyl)ethanamine, (R)-(-)-1, show significant CD spectral changes, no CD spectral changes were observed in the HgCl(2), HgBr(2), Hg(CN)(2), or Hg(CH(3)CO(2))(2) complexes. X-ray analysis indicates that both the (R)-(-)-1-Hg(CF(3)SO(3))(2) and (R)-(-)-1-HgCl(2) complexes form a coordination polymer and a discrete 2:3 [=(R)-(-)-1/HgCl(2)] complex with a figure-eight structure. X-ray crystallography revealed that (i) the Hg-Hg distances bridged by anions vary depending on the anions used and (ii) a coordination polymer cannot be formed when the Hg-Hg distances are too short. Therefore, the formation of a coordination polymer is required to give the observed significant CD spectral changes.     

Synthetic studies toward biselides. Part 1: synthesis of the core carbon framework of biselides A,B, and E using Stille coupling

Biselides A and B are cytotoxic marine polyketides. We have achieved synthesis of the C-1–C-15 segment of biselides A and B by using Stille coupling and regioselective oxidative cleavage as key steps. Furthermore, we constructed the α,β-unsaturated lactone part of biselide E by using a similar strategy.