Synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure study on oxidative etching of diamond-like carbon films by hyperthermal atomic oxygen

Surface structural changes of a hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) film exposed to a hyperthermal atomic oxygen beam were investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-PES), and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). It was confirmed that the DLC surface was oxidized and etched by high-energy collisions of atomic oxygen. RBS and real-time mass-loss data showed a linear relationship between etching and atomic oxygen fluence. SR-PES data suggested that the oxide layer was restricted to the topmost surface of the DLC film. NEXAFS data were interpreted to mean that the sp² structure at the DLC surface was selectively etched by collisions with hyperthermal atomic oxygen, and an sp³-rich region remained at the topmost DLC surface. The formation of an sp³-rich layer at the DLC surface led to surface roughening and a reduced erosion yield relative to the pristine DLC surface.     

Finite-time blow-up for quasilinear degenerate Keller–Segel systems of parabolic–parabolic type

This paper deals with the quasilinear degenerate Keller–Segel systems of parabolic–parabolic type in a ball of ${\mathbb{R}}^N$ ($N\ge 2$). In the case of non-degenerate diffusion, Cie?lak–Stinner [3], [4] proved that if $q>m+\frac{2}{N}$, where m denotes the intensity of diffusion and q denotes the nonlinearity, then there exist initial data such that the corresponding solution blows up in finite time. As to the case of degenerate diffusion, it is known that a solution blows up if $q>m+\frac{2}{N}$ (see Ishida–Yokota [13]); however, whether the blow-up time is finite or infinite has been unknown. This paper gives an answer to the unsolved problem. Indeed, the finite-time blow-up of energy solutions is established when $q>m+\frac{2}{N}$.     

Control of hole opening in single-wall carbon nanotubes and single-wall carbon nanohorns using oxygen

Due to the simplicity of the process, holes in the graphene walls of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and single-wall carbon nanohorns (SWNHs) have often been opened using O2 gas at high temperatures, even though this contaminates the nanotubes with carbonaceous dust (C-dust). To open holes with less C-dust contamination, we found that a slow temperature increase of 1 degrees C/min or less, in air, was effective. We also found that SWNHs having little C-dust could store a large quantity of materials inside the tubes. We infer that the local temperature increase due to the exothermic reaction of combustion may have been suppressed in the slow combustion process, which was effective in reducing the C-dust.     

Sequential pericyclic reaction of ene-diallenes: an efficient approach to the steroid skeleton

[reaction: see text] The one-pot construction of polycyclic aromatic systems from acyclic ene-bis(propargyl alcohols) was achieved through a tandem dual [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement/6pi-electrocyclic reaction/intramolecular [4 + 2] cycloaddition sequence. A steroidal compound was conveniently synthesized using the present method.     

Spectroscopic Measurement in 9He and 12Be

Spectroscopy for neutron-rich nuclei ⁹He and ¹²Be has been performed by means of heavy-ion double charge exchange (HIDCX) (¹⁸O, ¹⁸Ne) reaction on stable target nuclei ⁹Be and ¹²C, respectively. Several clear peaks in ¹²Be at low excitation energy region even above neutron separation energy have been observed in one-shot measurement, whereas no prominent signals of ⁹He have been observed owing to the small cross section. It is shown that the HIDCX reaction is a new powerful spectroscopic tool for study of unstable neutron-rich nuclei.     

Search for Alpha Inelastic Condensed State in 24Mg

The alpha inelastic scattering from ²⁴Mg was measured to obtain the isoscalar natural-parity excitation strengths and to search for the α-condensed states. The multipole decomposition analysis for the measured cross sections was performed. The strength distributions for the ${{\Delta}L=0{-}3}$ were successfully obtained and the possible candidates for the α-condensed states around the ¹⁶O core were found.     

Sensitive HPLC–fluorescence detection of morphine labeled with DIB-Cl in rat brain and blood microdialysates and its application to the preliminarily study of the pharmacokinetic interaction between morphine and diclofenac

A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)–fluorescence method for determination of morphine (Mor) in rat brain and blood microdialysates was developed using 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzoyl chloride (DIB-Cl) as a label. Mor was labeled with DIB-Cl under mild reaction conditions (at room temperature for 10 min). The separation of DIB-Mor was carried out on an octadecylsilica (ODS) column with CH₃CN/0.1 M acetate buffer (pH 5.4) within 14 min. The detection limits of Mor in brain and blood microdialysates at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 were 0.4 and 0.6 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the preliminarily study of potential pharmacokinetic interaction between Mor and diclofenac.     

Nanoparticle plasmon-assisted two-photon polymerization induced by incoherent excitation source

We demonstrate the possibility to achieve optical triggering of photochemical reactions via two-photon absorption using incoherent light sources. This is accomplished by the use of arrays of gold nanoparticles, specially tailored with high precision to obtain high near-field intensity enhancement.     

Apotirucallane and tirucallane triterpenoids from Cedrela sinensis

Nine new triterpenoids, 1-9, were isolated from the cortex of Cedrela sinensis (Meliaceae), together with six known compounds, sapelin E acetate, grandifoliolenone, azadirone, bourjotinolone A, piscidinol A, and hispidol B. The structures of 1-9 were determined by the 2D NMR experiments, chemical methods, and X-ray crystallography.