Optical and time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance studies of the excited states of para-methylcinnamic acid and para-methylcinnamate anion

Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), fluorescence, and phosphorescence spectra have been observed for the excited states oftrans-p-methylcinnamic acid (p-MeCA) andtrans-p-methylcinnamate anion (p-MeCA^?) in rigid organic glasses at 77 K. With a stretched-polymer-film technique, we assigned the resonance fields in the time-resolved EPR spectra of the lowest excited triplet (T₁) states ofp-MeCA andp-MeCA^?. From the analysis of these spectra we concluded that the deviation from planar structure in the T₁ state is small inp-MeCA andp-MeCA^? and the direction of C=O iss-cis to the ethylenic C=C bond inp-MeCA. The deprotonation appears to have little effect on the zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameters. The ZFS parameters were calculated theoretically using semiempirical molecular orbitals. The sublevel preferentially populated by intersystem crossing (ISC) is T _y in bothp-MeCA andp-MeCA^?. However, following the deprotonation ofp-MeCA, (P _y?P _z)/(P _x?P _z) changes from 5.7 inp-MeCA to 2.1 inp-MeCA^? (P _i are relative populating rates; thex andy axes are close to the long and short in-plane molecular axes, respectively, andz-axis is perpendicular to the molecular plane). The fluorescence lifetimes indicate that the deprotonation has little effect on the sum of the three ISC rate constants for the three T₁ sublevels. A decrease in acidity ofp-MeCA upon excitation has been observed.     

Synthesis of chiral helical poly[p-(oligopinanylsiloxanyl)phenylacetylene]s and enantioselective permeability of their membranes

To develop better polymeric materials for optical-resolution membranes, we synthesized nine chiral phenylacetylenes containing pinanyl groups. We used them to investigate the effects of chemical structures, including the number and position of the chiral groups in the monomers, on the induction of chirality in the main chain during polymerization and on the degree of enantioselectivity in the permeation of the polymeric membranes. The monomers included six new chiral p-(oligomethylpinanylsiloxanyl)phenylacetylenes. The homopolymerizations of these nine monomers with a Rh complex produced high-molecular-weight polymers (molecular weight = 10⁵–10⁶). Of the five polymers with a chiral pinanyl group at the 1-position of each oligosiloxanyl group, all except for two polymers showed high molar ellipticity in the main-chain region in the circular dichroism spectra. This finding indicated that these polymers had a chiral helical main chain. The membranes fabricated from all the polymers synthesized in this study were high-quality, except for two polymers. All these membranes showed enantioselective permeabilities for two amino acids and an alcohol. The membranes from the polymers with a chiral helical backbone, a high content of pinanyl groups, no oligodimethylsiloxane moieties, or a combination of these showed good enantioselectivities (= 1.7–640) in permeation. We propose that the sense of the main-chain helicity determined the selectivity. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 4502–4517, 2004     

Revaluation of the internal standard method coupled with the standard addition method applied to soil samples by means of photon activation

In order to achieve the highly accurate and precise multielement determination in environmental materials, the usefulness of the comparative standard provided by the processing method proposed previously for soil samples has been re-examined using calcareous loam soil, light sandy soil and river sediment as unknown samples. As a result, it was also demonstrated that concentrations of 15 trace elements in each sample can be determined effectively and reasonably.     

Development of effective cross-linking method for bioactive substance--enzyme immobilization using glutaraldehyde oligomers

When a 10% aqueous solution of glutaraldehyde (GA) was alkalized to pH 8.5 in borate buffer solution and heated at 60 degrees C, the ultraviolet spectrum of GA solution showed two distinct absorption maxima. The one at 280 nm with a weak absorbance ascribable to the C = O bond in the aldehyde group shifted to near 300 nm after 50 min with a slight increase in its intensity. Another maximum at 235 nm with a strong absorbance was ascribable to the C = C bond of the alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehyde group which was formed by aldol condensation reaction of GA monomer, and its absorbance increased markedly with increasing reaction time. The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis with detection at 235 nm indicated that several GA oligomers were formed by the alkali treatment and their concentrations increased. The cross-linking ability of these oligomers was examined by immobilizing enzymes (alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH] to an aminated polymer gel matrix by reaction with the treated GA solution. The enzyme activities increased with increasing concentration of GA oligomers. Then, the GA oligomers were isolated and used as the cross-linking agent. The activities of ADH and GLDH were 4-fold and 13-fold higher, respectively, than those obtained by using untreated GA solution, while the total amounts of immobilized enzymes were almost unchanged. These results suggest that GA oligomers may act as cross-linkers in a manner different from the generally accepted Schiff base formation reaction; a possible mechanism may involve addition reaction of an amino group to the double bond in the aldol condensate of GA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Design of Single‐Site Photocatalysts by Using Metal–Organic Frameworks as a Matrix

Single‐site photocatalysts generally display excellent photocatalytic activity and considerably high stability compared with homogeneous catalytic systems. A rational structural design of single‐site photocatalysts with isolated, uniform, and spatially separated active sites in a given solid is of prime importance to achieve high photocatalytic activity. Intense attention has been focused on the design and fabrication of single‐site photocatalysts by using porous materials as a platform. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have great potential in the design and fabrication of single‐site photocatalysts due to their remarkable porosity, ultrahigh surface area, extraordinary tailorability, and significant diversity. MOFs can provide an abundant number of binding sites to anchor active sites, which results in a significant enhancement in photocatalytic performance. In this focus review, the development of single‐site MOF photocatalysts that perform important and challenging chemical redox reactions, such as photocatalytic H₂ production, photocatalytic CO₂ conversion, and organic transformations, is summarized thoroughly. Successful strategies for the construction of single‐site MOF photocatalysts are summarized and major challenges in their practical applications are noted.     

On the chaotic nature of turbulence observed in benchmark analysis of nonlinear plasma simulation

Simulational results of two dissipative interchange turbulence (Rayleigh-Taylor-type instability with dissipation) models with the same physics are compared. The convective nonlinearity is the nonlinear mechanism in the models. They are shown to have different time evolutions in the nonlinear phase due to the different initial value which is attributed to the initial noise. In the first model (A), a single pressure representing the sum of the ion and electron components is used (one-fluid model). In the second model (B) the ion and electron components of the pressure fields are independently solved (two-fluid model). Both models become physically identical if we set ion and electron pressure fields to be equal in the model (B). The initial conditions only differ by the infinitesimally small initial noise due to the roundoff errors which comes from the finite difference but not the differentiation. This noise grows in accordance with the nonlinear development of the turbulence mode. Interaction with an intrinsic nonlinearity of the system makes the noise grow, whose contribution becomes almost the same magnitude of the fluctuation itself in the results. The instantaneous deviation shows the chaotic characteristics of the turbulence. (c) 1997 American Institute of Physics.     

Photon and proton activation analysis of iron and steel standards using the internal standard method coupled with the standard addition method

The internal standard method coupled with the standard addition method has been applied to photon activation analysis and proton activation analysis of minor elements and trace impurities in various types of iron and steel samples issued by the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan (ISIJ). Samples and standard addition samples were once dissolved to mix homogeneously, an internal standard and elements to be determined and solidified as a silica-gel to make a similar matrix composition and geometry. Cerium and yttrium were used as an internal standard in photon and proton activation, respectively. In photon activation, 20 MeV electron beam was used for bremsstrahlung irradiation to reduce matrix activity and nuclear interference reactions, and the results were compared with those of 30 MeV irradiation. In proton activation, iron was removed by the MIBK extraction method after dissolving samples to reduce the radioactivity of⁵⁶Co from iron via⁵⁶Fe(p,n)⁵⁶Co reaction. The results of proton and photon activation analysis were in good agreement with the standard values of ISIJ.