Supramolecular hydrogels and organogels based on novel l-valine and l-isoleucine amphiphiles

New low-molecular-weight gelators based on l-valine and l-isoleucine gelators, which have a positively charged terminal group, can gel not only pure water and aqueous solutions containing inorganic acids and salts but also some organic solvents and oils.     

Pictet-Spengler reactions catalyzed by Brønsted acid-surfactant-combined catalyst in water or aqueous media

Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOSA), Brønsted acid-surfactant-combined catalyst, efficiently catalyzes the Pictet-Spengler reactions of β-arylethyl carbamate derivatives with aldehydes in water. The present reaction is accelerated by the addition of 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP).     

Solvent effect on protein binding by polymer brush grafted onto porous membranes

An epoxy-group-containing polymer chain was grafted onto the hollow-fiber form of a porous polyethylene membrane by the immersion of the electron beam-irradiated trunk polymer in glycidyl methacrylate diluted with methanol and 1-butanol. The epoxy group density ranged from 8.5 to 13.4 mol per kg of the trunk polymer. Subsequently, the epoxy groups produced were converted into sulfonic acid and diethylamino groups. The density of -SOH and -N(C2H5), groups was 0.40 and 2.2 mol per kg of the product. respectively. The polymer brush, defined as a polymer chain extending from the surface of a pore toward the interior of the pore, was evaluated from the determination of an equilibrium binding capacity of hen egg lysozyme (HEL) and bovine serum albumin (BSA). The polymer brush prepared in 1-butanol was found to be longer than that prepared in methanol from the determinations of liquid permeability and protein adsorptivity. The proteins were bound to the polymer brush prepared in 1-butanol, followed by the functionalization, at higher degrees of multilayer binding: about 30 for HEL and 6 for BSA.     

Adsorption of anions to zirconium(IV) and titanium(IV) chemically immobilized on gel-phase

Adsorption behaviors of 25 anions to zirconium(IV) and titanium(IV) chemically immobilized on a gel-phase were studied by ion chromatography and by batch adsorption experiments. The affinities of Zr(IV) to iminodiacetate as an anchoring group and to anions as a sample are much stronger than those of Ti(IV). On a Zr(IV) column, fourteen anions showed no retention, four anions showed pH-dependent retention in a low pH region, and seven anions were irreversibly adsorbed at pH <7. In the last group, fluoride was adsorbed both by the ligand exchange mechanism and the addition mechanism, while phosphate, arsenate and selenite were only by the ligand exchange mechanism. The structures of the adsorbed species are discussed.     

Density functional theory investigation of Eu(III) complexes with beta-diketonates and phosphine oxides: model complexes of fluorescence compounds for ultraviolet LED devices

The density functional theory was employed to investigate Eu(III) complexes with three beta-diketonates and two phosphine oxides (complex M1: Eu(bdk)3(TPPO)2, complex M2: Eu(bdk)3(TMPO)2, and complex M3: Eu(bdk)3(TPPO)(TMPO)) deemed to be the model complexes of the fluorescence compounds for the ultraviolet LED devices we have recently developed. For each complex, two minimum energy points corresponding to two different optimized geometries (structures A and B) have been found, and the difference of the energy between two minimum energy points is found to be quite small (less than 1 kcal/mol). Vertical excitation energies and oscillator strengths for each complex at two optimized geometries have been obtained by the time-dependent density functional theory, and the character of the excited states has been investigated. For complex M3, the absorption edge is red-shifted, and the oscillator strengths are relatively large. The efficiency of intersystem crossing and energy transfer from the triplet excited state to the Eu(III) ion is considered by calculating DeltaE(ISC) (the energy difference between the first singlet excited state and the first triplet excited state) and DeltaE(ET) (the difference between the excitation energy of the complex for the first triplet excited state and the emission energy of the Eu(III) ion for 5D to 7F).     

Palladium(0) complexes coordinated with substituted olefins and tertiary phosphine ligands

New palladium(0) complexes with a variety of coordinated olefins [Pd(olefin)(PMePh₂)₂] (II) (olefin = styrene, ethyl methacrylate, methyl methacrylate, methyl acrylate, methacrylonitrile, and dimethyl maleate), were prepared by the reactions of [PdEt₂(PMePh₂)₂] (I) with corresponding olefins in toluene. These complexes were characterized by means of elemental analysis, IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy and the chemical reactions. The dissociation of the coordinated olefin from complex II in solution was confirmed by spectroscopic studies of [Pd(mma)(PMePh₂)₂] (mma = methyl methacrylate). From the variable temperature NMR study, kinetic parameters for the dissociation process were determined as E_a = 7 kcal/mol, and ΔS³ (293 K) = -30 cal/deg · mol. Some new hydrido complexes, [Pd(H)ClL₂] (IV) (L = PMePh₂, PEtPh₂ and PEt₂Ph), were prepared by the reactions of [Pd(olefin)L₂] with dry HCl.     

Catalytic transformation of methane over in-loaded ZSM-5 zeolite in the presence of ethene

Methane is shown to react with ethene over In-loaded ZSM-5 to higher hydrocarbons such as propene and toluene at around 673 K. Such methane conversion is not catalyzed by proton-exchanged ZSM-5 (H-ZSM-5) under the same conditions, only C2H4 being converted to higher hydrocarbons. By using 13C-labeled methane (13CH4) as a reactant, the reaction paths for the formation of propene, benzene and toluene were examined. 13C-labeled propene (13CC2H6) is formed by the reaction of 13CH4 with C2H4. The lack of 13C-labeled benzene revealed that propene is not transformed to benzene, which instead originates entirely from C2H4. The 13C atom is inserted both into the methyl group and benzene ring in the toluene formed. This indicates that toluene is formed by two reaction paths; the reaction of 13CC2H6 with butenes formed by the dimerization of C2H4 and the reaction of benzene with 13CH4. The existence of the latter path was proved by the direct reaction of 13CH4 with benzene. The reaction of methane with benzene was also carried out in a continuous flow system over In-loaded ZSM-5. The reaction afforded 7.6% and 0.9% yields of toluene and xylenes, respectively, at 623 K.     

TYROSINE-SENSITIZED PHOTODIMERIZATION OF THYMINE IN AQUEOUS SOLUTION

Abstract. Photodimerization of thymine in aqueous solution in the presence of tyrosine was studied with monochromatic UV irradiation. The total dimer formation was sensitized in the presence of tyrosine. The action spectrum of sensitized total dimer formation has a peak near 280 nm corresponding to the absorption maximum of tyrosine. Triplet quenchers reduced the sensitization substantially. It seems probable that tyrosine-sensitized photodimerization of thymine occurred via triplet-triplet energy transfer from tyrosine to thymine.     

WKB-like wave-functional for a string state and path-dependent phase factor

The variational calculation of the path-ordered phase factor is streamlined. We propose that the wave functional for a string state is approximately of the form

$\text{Ψ[x(σ)=}\text{Π}\text{σ′}\text{K(x(σ′))}\text{P exp}\text{ie∫}\text{A d}\text{x}$

.The real factor K is shown to be proportional to the square root of the dielectric permeability in the Kogut-Susskind-'t Hooft model of colour flux collimation.