Preparation and characterization of compounds of the system Fe(Sb1−xTex)2 (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1.0)

The complete solid solution of Fe(Sb_1?xTe_x)₂ with the marcasite structure was synthesized. Electrical and magnetic measurements showed that the substitution of tellurium for antimony in the diamagnetic semiconductor FeSb₂ resulted in metallic and paramagnetic behavior in the composition range 0.1 ? x ? 0.3, but in 0.4 ? x ? 0.6 the products belonged to the arsenopyrite structure and were diamagnetic and semiconductive. The samples whose compositions were in the range 0.7 ? x ? 1.0 were semiconductors. Mössbauer effect measurements showed that the isomer shift did not change, but the quadrupole splitting changed significantly from 1.28 mm/sec for FeSb₂ to 0.50 mm/sec for FeTe₂ in this solid solution.     

Solid-state polymerization of N-carboxy-L-leucine anhydride crystals in n-hexane

4-Isobutyloxazolidinedione, L -leucine N-carboxy anhydride, was polymerized to produce high molecular weight polymer with triethylamine in n-hexane which is not a solvent for the N-carboxy anhydride and poly-L -leucine. It was found that as the crystal size became smaller, the total surface area was increased, the initial rate of polymerization was increased, and inherent viscosity of the formed polymer was decreased.     

Gradient method of optimal control applied to the operation of a dam water gate

An extension of the authors' previous methods is presented for the optimal control of flood propagation via a dam gate, based on a combination of the finite element and gradient methods. It is assumed in previous papers that the control duration is the same as the duration of the flood. However, the duration of the control does not necessarily coincide with that of the flood flow. To overcome this difficulty, the gradient method is applied to solve the free terminal time-fixed terminal condition problem. It is shown that the water elevation can be controlled exactly the same as with the previously presented method. It is also shown that the computation can be terminated at a far shorter time than the terminal time of the flood.     

Molecular aggregation of solid aromatic polymers. I. Small-angle x-ray scattering from aromatic polyimide film

Molecular aggregation in a commercial polyimide film, Du Pont Kapton, was investigated by small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). From the analysis of the desmeared SAXS curve, it is concluded that aggregation in the Kapton film can be elucidated in terms of a two-phase structure having electron density fluctuations within the phases. For comparison with the molecular aggregation in Kapton, molecular aggregation in polyimides synthesized in our laboratory was also investigated. It was found in this case that molecular aggregation is controlled by the initial imidization temperature. Molecular aggregation of polyamic acid and polyimide cyclized at a low temperature gives amorphous structures. On the other hand, molecular aggregation of polyimide cyclized at high temperatures gives two-phase structures like that of Kapton film. The SAXS curve for a polyimide having the two-phase structure shows a peak due to interference between ordered regions. The two-phase structure of the polyimide can be explained in terms of a one-dimensional model. The more ordered phase is produced at the higher initial imidization temperature. The relative density difference between two phases is only a few percent for polyimide films cyclized at high temperatures. This result shows that the two-phase structure of aromatic polyimide differs essentially from that of ordinary crystalline polymers.     

Heteropoly compounds as octahedral high valence complex. Spectrochemical properties of Waugh-structure enneamolybdonickelate(IV) and enneamolybdomanganate(IV) ions

Electronic absorption and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra in UV-vis region of Waugh-structure [XMo₉O₃₂]^6?(X = Ni(IV), Mn(IV)) ion in aqueous solution and solid IR spectra have been measured. The Ni(IV) ion in the polyanion has a low-spin d⁶ electronic configuration and the Mn(IV) ion has a d³ configuration. Visible absorption spectrum of the nickelate(IV) polyanion is interpreted to be mainly governed by charge-transfer transitions of the “ligand”, Mo₉O₃₂, to Ni(IV) ion, rather than d-d transitions, while visible absorption of the manganate(IV) polyanion is governed, to a great extent, by d-d transitions. It is indicated by the MCD spectrum that the splitting of the first d-d absorption in the manganate(IV) polyanion is due to a contribution of the spin-forbiden transition, rather than from a trigonal splitting of the spin-allowed transition. Absorption and MCD spectra in UV region are due to charge-transfer transition within a common “ligand”, which are less influenced by the kind of heteroatom, Ni(IV) or Mn(IV). The MCD pattern by the intra-ligand charge-transfer is especially characteristic of the Waugh-structure polyanions.     

Biomimetic transformations of germacradienes. Stereospecific conversion of hedycaryol phenyl sulfides to cadinanes

E,E- and 2Z,6E-hedycaryol phenyl sulfides were converted by [2.3]sigmatropy of their sulfoxides to the same allyl alcohol which in turn afforded cadinane derivatives stereospecifically by the action of acids.     

Measurement of temporal changes in vocal tract area function from 3D cine-MRI data

A 3D cine-MRI technique was developed based on a synchronized sampling method [Masaki et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Jpn. E 20, 375-379 (1999)] to measure the temporal changes in the vocal tract area function during a short utterance /aiueo/ in Japanese. A time series of head-neck volumes was obtained after 640 repetitions of the utterance produced by a male speaker, from which area functions were extracted frame-by-frame. A region-based analysis showed that the volumes of the front and back cavities tend to change reciprocally and that the areas near the larynx and posterior edge of the hard palate were almost constant throughout the utterance. The lower four formants were calculated from all the area functions and compared with those of natural speech sounds. The mean absolute percent error between calculated and measured formants among all the frames was 4.5%. The comparison of vocal tract shapes for the five vowels with those from the static MRI method suggested a problem of MRI observation of the vocal tract: data from static MRI tend to result in a deviation from natural vocal tract geometry because of the gravity effect.     

Procedure for increasing the detection responses of estrogens in LC–MS based on introduction of a nitrobenzene moiety followed by electron capture atmospheric pressure chemical ionization

A practical procedure for determining estrogens in biological fluids has been studied using liquid chromatography–electron capture atmospheric pressure chemical ionization–mass spectrometry combined with derivatization. Among the commercially available reagents (4-nitrobenzoyl chloride, 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene, 4-nitrobenzenesulfonyl chloride and 4-nitrobenzyl bromide), 4-nitrobenzenesulfonyl chloride was of the most practical use; it rapidly and quantitatively reacted with estrogens and increased the detection responses by 8–23 times. The derivatization method allowed the reproducible and accurate quantification of serum and urine estrone and estradiol of a pregnant woman, which is useful for diagnosis of the fetoplacental function, with small amounts (10 μl) of sample and a simple pretreatment procedure. Tatsuya Higashiis Associate Professor of the Laboratory of Clinical Analytical Sciences (Professor Kazutake Shimada’s research group) at the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology of Kanazawa University. He received the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry Award for Young Scientists in 2003 and the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Award for Young Scientists in 2006. His current research interests are the development of methods for increasing sensitivity in LC-MS to detect and characterize trace amounts of biologically active steroids, such as estrogens, androgens and neuroactive steroids.