Stereospecificity of 1H, 13C and 15N shielding constants in the isomers of methylglyoxal bisdimethylhydrazone: problem with configurational assignment based on 1H chemical shifts

In the ¹³C NMR spectra of methylglyoxal bisdimethylhydrazone, the ¹³C‐5 signal is shifted to higher frequencies, while the ¹³C‐6 signal is shifted to lower frequencies on going from the EE to ZE isomer following the trend found previously. Surprisingly, the ¹H‐6 chemical shift and ¹J(C‐6,H‐6) coupling constant are noticeably larger in the ZE isomer than in the EE isomer, although the configuration around the –CH═N– bond does not change. This paradox can be rationalized by the C–H?N intramolecular hydrogen bond in the ZE isomer, which is found from the quantum‐chemical calculations including Bader's quantum theory of atoms in molecules analysis. This hydrogen bond results in the increase of δ(¹H‐6) and ¹J(C‐6,H‐6) parameters. The effect of the C–H?N hydrogen bond on the ¹H shielding and one‐bond ¹³C–¹H coupling complicates the configurational assignment of the considered compound because of these spectral parameters. The ¹H, ¹³C and ¹⁵N chemical shifts of the 2‐ and 8‐(CH₃)₂N groups attached to the –C(CH₃)═N– and –CH═N– moieties, respectively, reveal pronounced difference. The ab initio calculations show that the 8‐(CH₃)₂N group conjugate effectively with the π‐framework, and the 2‐(CH₃)₂N group twisted out from the plane of the backbone and loses conjugation. As a result, the degree of charge transfer from the N‐2– and N‐8– nitrogen lone pairs to the π‐framework varies, which affects the ¹H, ¹³C and ¹⁵N shieldings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Steady-State and Time-Resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopic Studies on Interaction of the N-terminal Region with the Hairpin Loop of the Phytocystain Scb

The steady-state and time-resolved fluorescece spectroscopy is one of the most powerful method to detect and analyze subtle conformation change and interaction between peptide elements in protein. Phytocystatin Scb isolated from sunflower seeds includes a single Trp residue at position 85. In an attempt to investigate the interaction of the N-terminal region of Scb with the first and second hairpin loops by fluorescence spectroscopy of Trp residue, two Scb mutants in which single Trp locates at position 52 and 58, respectively, and their N-terminal removed mutants were generated. The N-terminal truncation changed the fluorescence decay kinetics of Trp52 from the triple exponential to double. Furthermore, the time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy residue indicated that the segmental motion of Trp52 was significantly enhanced by its N-terminal truncation. In contrast, Trp58 and Trp85 had little influence. The N-terminal successive truncations of Scb and its mutants resulted in the weaken inhibitors to papain. These results suggested that the N-terminal region of Scb interacts with the peptide segment preceding the first hairpin loop, thereby stabilizing the conformation of the hairpin loop structure.     

Indirect measurement of secondary-particle distributions by an Au activation method at the KEK neutrino target station

Gold activation detectors were placed at nine positions on the inner wall of the KEK neutrino target station, and were exposed to secondary particles during approximately one month of machine operation. After exposure, the production rates of 19 spallation nuclides, which were produced in the Au activation detectors by nuclear reactions with different threshold energies, were determined by γ-ray spectrometry. Thus, it was indicated that the Au activation detector is a novel tool for obtaining the distribution of various secondary particles with high intensity and high energy.     

Persistent hole burning in semiconductor nanocrystals

The persistent spectral hole burning (PSHB) phenomenon was found to occur in many kinds of nanocrystalline semiconductors, such as CdSe, CdS, CuCl, CuBr and CuI, embedded in crystals, glass or polymers. In inhomogeneously broadened exciton absorption spectra of these nanocrystals, the spectral hole and its associated structure were created by the narrow-band laser excitation and were conserved for more than several hours at 2 K. Hole depth grew in proportion to the logarithm of the burning fluence. Thermally-annealing and light-induced hole-filling phenomena were observed. The hole burning takes place by the tunneling process through potential barriers with broadly distributed barrier height and thickness. Unusual luminescence behaviors related to the PSHB phenomena were also observed. They are luminescence elongation with increase of the light exposure and hole burning in the luminescence spectrum. The observed PSHB phenomena are explained by the exciton localization and the succeeding ionization of nanocrystals. The energy of the photoionized nanocrystal is released from the original energy and the new energies depend on the spatial arrangement of the trapped carriers. Quantum confinement of carriers and resulting strong Coulomb interaction between confined carriers and trapped carriers are essential for the energy change. Possible applications of the PSHB phenomenon is discussed.     

Magnetic behavior of Fe0.2Mg0.8TiO3 and Fe0.3Mg0.7TiO3 probed by Mössbauer timescale

Magnetization and Mössbauer measurements have been made on a diluted antiferromagnets Fe_xMg_1?xTiO₃ with x=0.2, 0.3 and 0.7. It has been demonstrated that this system exhibits a spin glass or a reentrant spin glass like behavior in the samples with x around the percolation concenrration x_c≈0.25. It has been shown that various sizes of magnetic clusters are formed well above the transition temperatures determined by the magnetization measurements in the samples with x near x_c. The behavior of Fe_0.2Mg_0.8TiO₃ is discussed as a typical cluster glass.     

Coherent spectroscopy of semiconductor quantum dots

Coherent spectroscopy of semiconductor quantum dots, such as photon echo, accumulated photon echo, interferometric coherency measurement, quantum beat and coherent phonon measurement, are reviewed in relation to the historical progress in the coherent spectroscopy of semiconductors.     

Buffers to suppress sodium dodecyl sulfate adsorption to polyethylene oxide for protein separation on capillary polymer electrophoresis

Although polyethylene oxide (PEO) offers several advantages as a sieving polymer in SDS capillary polymer electrophoresis (SDS-CPE), solution properties of PEO cause deterioration in the electrophoresis because PEO in solution aggregates itself, degrades into smaller pieces, and forms polymer-micelle complexes with SDS. We examined protein separation on SDS-CPE with PEO as a sieving matrix in four individual buffer solutions: Tris-CHES, Tris-Gly, Tris-Tricine, and Tris-HCl buffers. The solution properties of PEO as a sieving matrix in those buffers were examined by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and by surface tension. Preferential SDS adsorption onto PEO disturbed protein-SDS complexation and impaired the protein separation efficiency. Substantial adsorption of SDS to PEO was particularly observed in Tris-Gly buffer. The Tris-CHES buffer prevented SDS from adsorbing onto the PEO. Only Tris-CHES buffer achieved separation of six proteins. This study demonstrated efficient protein separation on SDS-CPE with PEO.     

Abnormal phospholipids distribution in the prefrontal cortex from a patient with schizophrenia revealed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spectrometry

Schizophrenia is one of the major psychiatric disorders, and lipids have focused on the important roles in this disorder. In fact, lipids related to various functions in the brain. Previous studies have indicated that phospholipids, particularly ones containing polyunsaturated fatty acyl residues, are deficient in postmortem brains from patients with schizophrenia. However, due to the difficulties in handling human postmortem brains, particularly the large size and complex structures of the human brain, there is little agreement regarding the qualitative and quantitative abnormalities of phospholipids in brains from patients with schizophrenia, particularly if corresponding brain regions are not used. In this study, to overcome these problems, we employed matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spectrometry (IMS), enabling direct microregion analysis of phospholipids in the postmortem brain of a patient with schizophrenia via brain sections prepared on glass slides. With integration of traditional histochemical examination, we could analyze regions of interest in the brain at the micrometric level. We found abnormal phospholipid distributions within internal brain structures, namely, the frontal cortex and occipital cortex. IMS revealed abnormal distributions of phosphatidylcholine molecular species particularly in the cortical layer of frontal cortex region. In addition, the combined use of liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry strengthened the capability for identification of numerous lipid molecular species. Our results are expected to further elucidate various metabolic processes in the neural system.     

A divergent synthesis of dihydropyridazinones,N‐substituted dihydropyrazoles,and O‐substituted pyrazoles

Dihydropyridazinones 4a , 4b , N‐substituted dihydropyrazoles 5b , 5c , 5d , and O‐substituted pyrazoles 6a , 6b , 6c , 6d have been synthesized starting from spirocyclopropanepyrazole derivative 2 . Treatment of 2 with α‐chloro esters, e.g., methyl chloroacetate, ethyl chloroacetate, isopropyl chloroacetate, and tert‐butyl chloroacetate, in potassium carbonate/sodium iodide system caused ring opening and subsequent C‐ or N‐attack nucleophilic substitution to give the corresponding dihydropyridazinones 4a , 4b and N‐substituted dihydropyrazoles 5b , 5c , 5d . On the other hand, in the absence of sodium iodide, O‐substituted pyrazoles 6a , 6b , 6c , 6d were obtained from 2 via an O‐attack nucleophilic substitution. J. Heterocyclic Chem., 2011.