Property and Application of BACy‐Based Functional Hydrogels

Conventional polyacrylamide hydrogels prepared from the free radical polymerization between acrylamide and N,N′‐methylenebisacrylamide (NMBA) have been frequently used in the biochemical technique like the sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS‐PAGE) to resolve protein mixtures. In this study, we have prepared an alternative polyacrylamide hydrogel from the cross‐linking of acrylamide and N,N′‐bisacrylylcystamine (BACy). In addition, we have compared the BACy‐based hydrogel with the NMBA‐based polyacrylamide hydrogel for their physical properties such as swelling ratio, shear modulus, crosslink density and morphology. Moreover, we further determined whether BACy‐based polyacrylamide hydrogel could be applied to SDS‐PAGE and proteomics research. The results showed that this type of hydrogel is capable of separating proteins and facilitates further in‐gel protein digestion and the following protein identifications by mass spectrometry. In summary, our study provides a basis for the putative application of BACy‐based hydrogels.     

Determination of Organochlorine Pesticides in Milk by Electron Capture Capillary Gas Chromatography

The goal of this study was to develop an analytical method to determine the organochlorine pesticides residues in milk. The samples were loaded onto the self‐packed diatomaceous earth columns, then eluted with 25 mL solvent mixture of n‐hexane‐acetone‐ethyl acetate (4+2+1, v/v/v). After collection and concentration, the extracts were cleaned up by the C18 solid‐phase extraction cartridges. Gas chromatograph/electron capture detector was used for determination. The average recoveries of milk which were spiked with 10 ng/mL of α‐BHC, lindane, heptachlor, dieldrin, p,p'‐DDD, and p,p'‐DDT were above 92%. Limits of detection between 0.5‐1.8 ng/mL were achieved.     

Search for CP violation in τ±→K(S)0π±ντ decays at Belle

We report on a search for CP violation in τ(±)→K(S)(0)π(±)ν(τ) decays using a data sample of 699 fb(-1) collected by the Belle experiment at the KEKB electron-positron asymmetric-energy collider. The CP asymmetry is measured in four bins of the invariant mass of the K(S)(0)π(±) system and found to be compatible with zero with a precision of O(10(-3)) in each mass bin. Limits for the CP violation parameter Im(η(S)) are given at the 90% confidence level. These limits are |Im(η(S))| < 0.026 or better, depending on the parametrization used to describe the hadronic form factors, and improve upon previous limits by 1 order of magnitude.     

Search for CP violation in D± meson decays to ϕπ±

We search for CP violation in Cabibbo-suppressed charged D meson decays by measuring the difference between the CP-violating asymmetries for the Cabibbo-suppressed decays D(±)→K(+)K(-)π(±) and the Cabibbo-favored decays D(s)(±)→K(+)K(-)π(±) in the K(+)K(-) mass region of the ? resonance. Using 955 fb(-1) of data collected with the Belle detector, we obtain A(CP)(D+→?π+)=(+0.51±0.28±0.05)%. The measurement improves the sensitivity of previous searches by more than a factor of 5. We find no evidence for direct CP violation.     

Molecular Engineering of Boryl Oxasmaragdyrins through Peripheral Modification: Structure–Efficiency Relationship

Expanded porphyrins with the absorption profile down to the infrared region through increased π‐conjugation are suitable candidates for a low energy sensitizer. Oxasmaragdyrin boron complexes, a class of aromatic‐core‐modified expanded porphyrin with 22 π‐electrons, have been recently utilized as an efficient low energy sensitizer in dye‐sensitized solar cells. In this paper, we have prepared a series of eight novel boryl oxasmaragdyrins through molecular engineering on the periphery and their overall photovoltaic performances in dye‐sensitized solar cells are evaluated. With the help of photophysical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic studies, it is revealed that molecular structure, especially the number and position of the donor–acceptor groups play a pivotal role in their photovoltaic performance. Presence of the two well‐separated split Soret bands in the 400–500 nm region of UV/Vis spectrum ensures broader coverage of absorption wavelengths. Even though the two‐anchoring‐group dyes ( SM5 – SM8 ) bind strongly to TiO₂ compared to one‐anchoring‐group dyes ( SM1 – SM4 ), the latter have superior photovoltaic performance than the former. Dye SM1 , with two hexyloxyphenyl donors and one carboxylic acid anchor showed the best overall conversion efficiency of 4.36 % (J_SC=10.91 mA cm^?2; V_OC=0.59 V; FF=0.68). This effective modulation of photovoltaic performance through structural engineering of the dyes will serve as a guideline for the future design of efficient low energy light‐harvesting sensitizers.     

Influence of the grain boundary barrier height on the electrical properties of Gallium doped ZnO thin films

The pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique is used to deposit Gallium doped zinc oxide (GZO) thin films on glass substrates at 250 with different Gallium (Ga) doping concentration of 0, 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0%. The influence of Ga doping concentration on structure, chemical atomic compositions, electrical and optical properties was investigated by XRD, XPS, Hall measurement and UV spectrophotometer, respectively. The relationship between electrical properties and Ga doping concentration was clarified by analyzing the chemical element compositions and the chemical states on the GZO films. It is found that the carrier concentrations and oxygen vacancies in the GZO films increase with increasing Ga doping concentration. The lowest resistivity (3.63 × 10⁻⁴ Ω cm) and barrier height of grain boundaries (14 mV) were obtained with 3% Ga doping. In particular, we suppose the band gap of 5% Ga doping sample larger than that of 3% Ga doping sample is due to the quantum size effect from the amorphous structure rather than Moss-Burstein shift.     

Asterolaurins G – J,New Xenicane Diterpenoids from the Taiwanese Soft Coral Asterospicularia laurae

Four new xenicane diterpenoids, asterolaurins G–J ( 1 – 4 , resp.) have been isolated from the Taiwanese soft coral Asterospicularia laurae. Their structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic analyses (UV, CD, IR, ¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR, ¹H,¹H‐COSY, HMBC, and NOESY). The cytotoxic activities of all compounds were evaluated.