Removal of inhibition by ammonium ion in nitrogenase-dependent hydrogen evolution of a marine photosynthetic bacterium,Rhodopseudomonas sp. strain W-1S

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The addition of NH4Cl at concentrations of more than 1 mM completely inhibited nitrogenase-dependent hydrogen evolution using 1 mM succinate as a substrate...     

The effect of chromium substitution on the phase transition of lithium manganese spinel oxides

The phase transition of chromium substituted lithium manganese spinel oxide, LiCr_yMn_2−yO₄ was investigated by low-temperature powder X-ray diffractometry (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and electrical resistivity measurements. The sample prepared at 820 °C resulted in lowering the transition temperature T_t with Cr composition y, whereas T_t of the sample prepared at 750 °C remained constant for 0≤y≤0.17 in LiCr_yMn_2−yO₄. This would be caused by a difference in distribution of the substituted Cr³⁺ ion in octahedral site depending on the preparation temperature. The phase transition was suppressed with increasing the amount of Cr content.     

Phase transition and crystal growth of a titania layer on a titanium metal plate

Research on Chemical Intermediates - A titanium metal surface was heated with an alkali metal chloride in order to produce a phase transition from amorphous titania to crystalline titania on the...     

Tissue surface tension measurement by rigorous axisymmetric drop shape analysis

Certain behaviours of embryonic cell aggregates can be modelled by ascribing to them a tissue surface tension, with each cell analogous to a liquid molecule. Under normal gravity, aggregates are nearly spherical, but they can be partially flattened in a centrifuge. This allows measurement of their tissue surface tensions by a drop shape method such as axisymmetric drop shape analysis (ADSA). We study ectodermal embryonic cells from the frog Xenopus laevis subjected to centrifugation at 100 × g and 200 × g. We show that ADSA can be applied to irregular aggregate profiles and compare results with those from a previous, simpler version called ADSA-IP. With a modification in the experimental method, the two algorithms give similar results and the aggregate profiles more closely follow Laplacian curves. The ADSA fitting error allows an estimate of the relative uncertainty in the results.     

Proton donor–acceptor property of matrix during the sol–gel reaction

The UV–VIS absorption spectrum of thymol blue (TB), which was used for an in situ probe for the proton donor–acceptor property of the surrounding matrix, has been observed as a function of time during the sol–gel–xerogel reactions of tetraethyl orthosilicate under HCl catalyzed and uncatalyzed conditions. The value of relative abundance, RA _Z , of zwitter ion species was calculated. In the ethanol-containing system, RA _Z increased for 7 h, then decreased until 114 h had passed, and finally increased gradually. These dynamic changes of the RA _Z were commonly observed for all the systems. The final RA _Z values were expected larger than 0.7 irrespective of the initial chemical composition. The characteristic increase and decrease in RA _Z are ascribed to the increase and decrease in proton-donating ability from the surrounding matrix to encapsulated TB molecules. A general acidity function, H ₋, of the matrix was estimated.     

Dynamically Controllable Emission of Polymer Nanofibers: Electrofluorescence Chromism and Polarized Emission of Polycarbazole Derivatives

Electrochemical polymerization of a series of N‐alkyl‐2,7‐di(2‐thienyl)carbazoles in acetonitrile was performed to obtain conjugated polymers with fluorescence. Scanning electron and atomic force microscopies revealed that the surface morphology of the polymer films significantly depends on the alkyl chain lengths of the polymers. Particularly, a homopolymer bearing hexyl groups and copolymers with an average alkyl chain length of six carbon atoms show nanofiber morphology. The polymer nanofibers were stacked on a substrate electrode. The fluorescence of the polymer nanofiber film was tunable with application of voltage, with good repeatability. The X‐ray diffraction pattern of the fibers showed the structural order. The polymer nanofibers thus prepared showed an electrochemically driven change in polarized photoluminescence.     

Spectroscopic selection of distance measurements in a protein dimer with mixed nitroxide and Gd3+ spin labels

The pulse DEER (Double Electron-Electron Resonance) technique is frequently applied for measuring nanometer distances between specific sites in biological macromolecules. In this work we extend the applicability of this method to high field distance measurements in a protein assembly with mixed spin labels, i.e. a nitroxide spin label and a Gd(3+) tag. We demonstrate the possibility of spectroscopic selection of distance distributions between two nitroxide spin labels, a nitroxide spin label and a Gd(3+) ion, and two Gd(3+) ions. Gd(3+)-nitroxide DEER measurements possess high potential for W-band long range distance measurements (6 nm) by combining high sensitivity with ease of data analysis, subject to some instrumental improvements.     

Isolation and structure revision of 10-deacetyltaxinine from the seeds of the Chinese yew, Taxus mairei

A new taxoid was isolated from the methanol extract of the seeds of Taxus mairei. Its structures were established as 2alpha,9alpha-diacetoxy-10beta-hydroxy-5alpha-cinnamoyloxytaxa-4(20), 11-dien-13-one (l0-deacetyltaxinine) on the basis of spectral analysis including (1)H-NMR, (13)C-NMR, HMQC, HMBC, NOESY, and HR-FABMS. The structure of previously reported 10-deacetyltaxinine is 9-deacetyltaxinine.     

Nature of copper(II)-lanthanide(III) magnetic interactions and generation of a large magnetic moment with magnetic anisotropy of 3d-4f cyclic cylindrical tetranuclear complexes [CuIILLnIII(hfac)2]2, (H3L = 1-(2-hydroxybenzamido)-2-(2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylideneamino)ethane and Hhfac = hexafluoroacetylacetone,LnIII = Eu,Gd, Tb,Dy)

A cyclic cylindrical 3d-4f tetranuclear structure, in which the 3d and 4f magnetic ions are arrayed alternately, has been found to be a suitable molecular design to produce a large magnetic moment and large magnetic anisotropy. Complexes 3-10 with the chemical formula [MLLn(hfac)2]2 ((MII, LnIII) = (Cu, Eu) (3), (Cu, Gd) (4), (Cu, Tb) (5), (Cu, Dy) (6), (Ni, Eu) (7), (Ni, Gd) (8), (Ni, Tb) (9), (Ni, Dy) (10)) have been synthesized, where H3L = 1-(2-hydroxybenzamido)-2-(2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylideneamino)ethane and Hhfac = hexafluoroacetylacetone. The powder X-ray diffractions and FAB-mass spectra demonstrated that these complexes assume a similar tetranuclear structure. The crystal structures of 4 and 5 showed that each complex has a cyclic cylindrical tetranuclear CuII2LnIII2 structure, in which the CuII complex functions as a "bridging ligand-complex" to two adjacent LnIII ions. The temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibilities from 2 to 300 K and the field-dependent magnetizations at 2 K from 0 to 5 T have been measured for four pairs of CuII2LnIII2 and NiII2LnIII2, in which compound NiII2LnIII2 containing diamagnetic NiII ion was used as the reference complex to evaluate the CuII-LnIII magnetic interaction. Comparison of the magnetic properties of the CuII2LnIII2 complex with those of the corresponding NiII2LnIII2 complex showed that the magnetic interaction between CuII and EuIII ions is weakly ferromagnetic and that between CuII and either of GdIII, TbIII, and DyIII ions is ferromagnetic. Complex CuII2GdIII2, 4, has an S = 8 spin ground state, due to the ferromagnetic spin coupling between SGd = 7/2 and SCu = 1/2 with coupling constants of J1 = +3.1 cm-1 and J2 = +1.2 cm-1. The magnetic measurements showed that compounds 5 and 6, CuII2LnIII2 (LnIII = Tb, Dy), exhibit large magnetic moments and large magnetic anisotropy due to the LnIII ion.     

Ultrashort optical pulse generation from microwave modulated AlGaAs diode laser with selfoc rod resonator

Experimental studies were carried out to demonstrate the practical feasibility for generating high-bit-rate ultrashort optical pulses from RF modulated AlGaAs diode lasers using compact Selfoc rod lens external resonators mounted on the brass heat sink for the diode laser. Measured pulse width was found to be ? 37 ps with a lorentzian profile at modulation frequencies of 1.4 and 3.6 GHz depending on the length of the Selfoc rod lens. Evidence for regeneratively amplified pulse oscillation was also obtained at 3.6 GHz repetition rate with this external cavity configuration.