Efficient terpolymerization of ethylene and styrene with α‐olefins by aryloxo‐modified half‐titanocene‐based catalysts and cocatalyst systems

Aryloxo‐modified half‐titanocenes, Cp′TiCl₂(O‐2,6‐ⁱPr₂C₆H₃) [Cp′ = Cp* ( 1 ), ^tBuC₅H₄ ( 2 )], catalyze terpolymerization of ethylene and styrene with α‐olefin (1‐hexene and 1‐decene) efficiently in the presence of cocatalyst, affording high‐molecular‐weight polymers with unimodal distributions (compositions). Efficient comonomer incorporations have been achieved by these catalysts. The content of each comonomer (α‐olefin, styrene, etc.) could be controlled by varying the comonomer concentration charged, and resonances ascribed to styrene and α‐olefin repeated insertion were negligible. The terpolymerization with p‐methylstyrene (p‐MS) in place of styrene also proceeded in the presence of [PhN(H)Me₂][B(C₆F₅)₄] and AlⁱBu₃ cocatalyst, and p‐MS was incorporated in an efficient matter, affording high‐molecular‐weight polymers with uniform molecular weight distributions. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 2565–2574     

On the wavelets having Gevrey regularities and subexponential decays

It is known that there is no orthonormal wavelet belonging to and having exponential decay. In this paper, we shall construct new wavelets having Gevrey regularities both in time and frequency. Furthermore, we also construct a wavelet belonging to and having almost exponential decay.     

Chiral sensing for amino acid derivative based on a [2]rotaxane composed of an asymmetric rotor and an asymmetric axle

A racemic [2]rotaxane, composed of an asymmetric rotor and an asymmetric axle, formed a diastereomer with an amino acid derivative, and showed an optical response for the chiral recognition.     

Synthesis of peptidoglycan fragments and evaluation of their biological activity

The peptidoglycan (PG) bacterial cell wall glycoconjugate has been well known as a strong immunopotentiator. Partial structures of PG were chemically synthesized for elucidation of precise biological activities. Effective construction of distinct repeating glycans of PG was accomplished by the coupling of a key disaccharide glucosaminyl-beta(1-4)-muramic acid unit. Stereoselective glycosylation of disaccharide units was achieved by neighboring group participation of the N-Troc (Troc = 2,2,2-trichloroethoxycarbonyl) group and appropriate reactivity of N-Troc-glucosaminyl trichloroacetimidate. By using an efficient synthetic strategy, mono-, di-, tetra- and octasaccharide fragments of PG were synthesized in high yields. The biological activity of synthetic fragments of PG was evaluated by induction of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) from human monocytes, and toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and Nod2 dependencies by using transfected HEK293 cells, respectively. Here we reveal that TLR2 was not stimulated by the series of synthetic PG partial structures, whereas Nod2 recognizes the partial structures containing the MDP moiety.     

Development of two-dimensional gas chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry for the stable carbon isotopic analysis of C(2)-C(5) non-methane hydrocarbons emitted from biomass burning

A two-dimensional gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (2D-GC/C/IRMS) system was developed for stable carbon isotopic measurements of C(2)-C(5) non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in biomass burning smoke. The 2D-GC/C/IRMS system successfully improved the accuracy and precision for the measurements of C(4) and C(5) saturated compounds in a smoke sample by selective injection of target compounds into a combustion furnace and consequently allowed us to provide complete baseline separation for all individual NMHCs. The analytical precision of the delta(13)C of each compound was better than 0.5 per thousand for more than 500 pmolC injections and 2.1 per thousand for 30 pmolC injections, which was estimated from replicate analysis of standard gases. This system was applied to the analysis of NMHCs in smoke samples collected from laboratory biomass burning experiments. From the combustion of three fuel materials (rice straw, pine wood, and maize), we found that the isotopic fractionation between fuel material and individual NMHCs is almost independent of the fuel material and thus the delta(13)C values of the fuel materials are reflected in delta(13)C values of most of NMHCs. However, only i-butane emitted from maize combustion showed anomalous (13)C-depletion of -11.6 per thousand relative to the delta(13)C value of maize. Such a large (13)C depletion suggests the specific isotopic fractionation process which is attributed to the maize combustion itself or the chemical properties of i-butane during production from a radical recombination reaction.     

Synthetic Molecules that Protect Cells from Anoikis and Their Use in Cell Transplantation

One of the major problems encountered in cell transplantation is the low level of survival of transplanted cells due to detachment‐induced apoptosis, called anoikis. The present study reports on the chemical synthesis and biological evaluation of water‐soluble molecules that protect suspended cells from anoikis. The synthetic molecules bind to and induce clusters of integrins and heparan‐sulfate‐bound syndecans, two classes of receptors that are important for extracellular matrix‐mediated cell survival. Molecular biological analysis indicates that such molecules prolong the survival of suspended NIH3T3 cells, at least in part, by promoting clustering of syndecan‐4 and integrin β1 on the cell surface, leading to the activation of small GTPase Rac‐1 and Akt. In vivo experiments using animal disease models demonstrated the ability of the molecules to improve cell engraftment. The cluster‐inducing molecules may provide a starting point for the design of new synthetic tools for cell‐based therapy.     

Anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate by initiating systems based on lithium amides of various secondary amines

The anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate in toluene at −78 °C with lithium amides of various secondary amines (diisopropylamine, N‐isopropylaniline, N‐n‐butylaniline, indoline, and N‐ethyl‐o‐toluidine) as initiators was studied. The tacticity of the resulting poly(methyl methacrylate)s (PMMAs) was dependent on the kind of secondary amine, and highly isotactic PMMAs (91–93% mm) were obtained when lithium amides of N‐isopropylaniline and N‐n‐butylaniline were employed. The isotacticity of the PMMAs further increased up to 98% mm with initiating systems composed of the lithium amides, n‐butyllithium, and transition‐metal halides (WCl₆, MoCl₅, and NbCl₅). © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 4405–4411, 2005     

Phase Modulation in Interferometry: Phase-Drift Suppression over a Wide Range of the Modulation Index

We propose a new technique for processing the heterodyne beat signals obtained in interferometry by sinusoidal modulation of the optical path difference. This technique achieves a high degree of signal stabilization with respect to phase drifts, while removing earlier restrictions imposed on the modulation index. Four Fourier harmonics of the interference signal allow the determination of the current modulation index, and then the coherent component of the intensity can be calculated. The method was tested both numerically and experimentally, and compared to a previous technique that uses the same input data. The effects of phase drifts are canceled on a wide range of the modulation index values, while the reference method achieves the same performance only for particular isolated values. A simplified version of the method is proposed for cases when the signal-to-noise ratio is low.On leave from the National Institute for Laser, Plasma, and Radiation Physics, PO Box MG-36, Bucharest, Romania.