STUDIES ON PHOTOTROPISM OF YOUNG SPORANGIOPHORES OF PILOBOLUS KLEINII*

Abstract— Young sporangiophores of the fungus, Pilobolus kleinii, respond to unilateral illumination by bending or by growing toward light of wavelengths between 312 and 530 mμ, with peaks of sensitivity near 360 and 450 mμ. Young sporangiophores exhibit a negative phototropic response to wavelengths shorter than 300 mμ, with a strong negative response at 280 mμ. Since the action spectrum did not correspond to the absorption spectrum of the pigmented zone as measured in vivo, and since colorless sporangiophores formed on media containing diphenylamine were capable of phototropic response, it is unlikely that the conspicuous orange-yellow pigment in young sporangiophores is the photoreceptor for phototropism. The results of probing with small beams of light and the behavior of sporangiophores submerged in mineral oil, together with measurements of the refractive index of the tip and base indicate that the photosensitive region is located in the tip of the young sporangiophore.     

Transient permeation of organic vapors through elastomeric membranes

The permeation of benzene and acetone vapors through sulfur-cured natural rubber was studied by the time-lag method. The experimental results were analyzed by a method suggested by Meares. The zero concentration diffusion coefficient D₀ was obtained by the early-time method. The Frisch time-lag equation was utilized to estimate both the solubility coefficient s and the additional parameter b required to define the concentration dependence of the diffusion coefficient: D(c) = D₀ exp {bc}. This form of concentration dependence was manifested by the corresponding permeability coefficient values. At low entering penetrant pressure, where the transport coefficients are constant, indirect evidence was obtained that D₀ is the mechanistically correct diffusion coefficient. The solubility coefficient values calculated for benzene vapor in natural rubber are in reasonable agreement with published equilibrium sorption data for a similar rubber compound. At higher entering penetrant pressures, average diffusion coefficients obtained at steady state tended to be larger than the corresponding average diffusion coefficients derived from the time lags. This same effect has been detected by other experimental approaches. Permeation experiments designed for this rapid method of analysis appear capable of yielding information consistent with that obtained by more time-consuming traditional methods.     

On the Hénon transformation

In [4] Hénon studied a transformation which maps the plane into itself and appears to have an attractor with locally the structure of a Cantor set cross an interval. By making use of the characteristic exponent, frequency spectrum, and a theorem of Smale, our numerical experiments provide evidence for the existence of two distinct strange attractors for some parameter values, an exponential rate of mixing for the parameter values studied by Hénon, and an argument that there is a Cantor set in the trapping region of Hénon.On leave from the Department of Mathematics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USAThe National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation     

Application of vinylogous carbamates and vinylogous aminonitriles to the regiospecific synthesis of uniquely functionalized pyrroles and quinolones

Pyrroles and quinolones represent core structures, which are routinely found in both natural and synthetic bioactive substances. Consequently, the development of efficient and regiospecific methods for the preparation of such heterocycles with unique functionality is of some importance. We describe herein the regiospecific synthesis of 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted pyrroles containing polar substituents and such products are prepared from vinylogous carbamates and vinylogous aminonitriles. We also describe the regiospecific synthesis of 3-aryl containing 1,3,6-trisubstituted quinolones from vinylogous carbamates. The use of an amine exchange reaction to prepare precursors for the pyrrole and quinolone forming cyclizations represents a key factor in the strategy.     

On the iteration of a rational function: Computer experiments with Newton's method

Using Newton's method to look for roots of a polynomial in the complex plane amounts to iterating a certain rational function. This article describes the behavior of Newton iteration for cubic polynomials. After a change of variables, these polynomials can be parametrized by a single complex parameter, and the Newton transformation has a single critical point other than its fixed points at the roots of the polynomial. We describe the behavior of the orbit of the free critical point as the parameter is varied. The Julia set, points where Newton's method fail to converge, is also pictured. These sets exhibit an unexpected stability of their gross structure while the changes in small scale structure are intricate and subtle.     

Observation of the bottomonium ground state in the decay Upsilon(3S)-->gammaetab

We report the results of a search for the bottomonium ground state etab(1S) in the photon energy spectrum with a sample of (109+/-1) million of Upsilon(3S) recorded at the Upsilon(3S) energy with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B factory at SLAC. We observe a peak in the photon energy spectrum at Egamma=921.2(-2.8)+2.1(stat)+/-2.4(syst) MeV with a significance of 10 standard deviations. We interpret the observed peak as being due to monochromatic photons from the radiative transition Upsilon(3S)-->gammaetab(1S). This photon energy corresponds to an etab(1S) mass of 9388.9(-2.3)+3.1(stat)+/-2.7(syst) MeV/c2. The hyperfine Upsilon(1S)-etab(1S) mass splitting is 71.4(-3.1)+2.3(stat)+/-2.7(syst) MeV/c2. The branching fraction for this radiative Upsilon(3S) decay is estimated to be [4.8+/-0.5(stat)+/-1.2(syst)]x10(-4).     

Retraction: Divergent synthesis of 5-substituted pyrimidine 2′-deoxynucleosides and their incorporation into oligodeoxynucleotides for the survey of uracil DNA glycosylases

Retraction of ‘Divergent synthesis of 5-substituted pyrimidine 2′-deoxynucleosides and their incorporation into oligodeoxynucleotides for the survey of uracil DNA glycosylases’ by Ai Tran et al., Chem. Sci., 2020, 11, 11818–11826, DOI: 10.1039/D0SC04161K.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this Chemical Science article due to concerns about the reproducibility of the data.The Royal Society of Chemistry has been contacted by the authors of this article to alert us that recent experiments by their group have shown that some results are not reproducible, especially the yields of several key intermediates. Given the focus on the easy access to epigenetically important nucleosides and related ODNs, unreliable yields significantly impact the confidence in the results. In addition, it was discovered that one of the biological samples provided to the authors was mislabelled. The human stem cells were actually mouse stem cells, hence some discussion and conclusions in the article may no longer apply. Ahead of a thorough re-examination of the entire study, in order to preserve the rigor of the scientific record, the signing authors have chosen to retract the article and they would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused for readers.Signed: Ai Tran, Song Zheng, Dawanna S. White, Alyson M. Curry and Yana CenRetraction endorsed by May Copsey, Executive Editor, Chemical Science     

Measurements of the thickness compressibility of an n-octadecyltriethoxysilane monolayer self-assembled on mica

The surface forces apparatus technique and the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts theory were used to study the elastic properties of an n-octadecyltriethoxysilane self-assembled monolayer (OTE-SAM) on both untreated and plasma-treated mica. Our aim was to measure the thickness compressibilities of OTE monolayers on untreated and plasma-treated mica and to estimate their surface densities and phase-states from the film compressibility. The compressibility moduli of OTE are (0.96 +/- 0.02) x 10(8) N/m(2) on untreated mica and (1.24 +/- 0.06) x 10(8) N/m(2) on plasma-treated mica. This work suggests that the OTE phase-state is pseudocrystalline. In addition, the results from the compressibility measurements in water vapor suggest that the OTE-SAM on both untreated and plasma-treated mica is not homogeneous but rather contains both crystalline polymerized OTE domains and somewhat hydrophilic gaseous regions.