Large topological Hall effect in a short-period helimagnet MnGe

We have observed an unconventional, likely topological, Hall effect over a wide temperature region in the magnetization process of a chiral-lattice helimagnet MnGe. The magnitude of the topological Hall resistivity is nearly temperature-independent below 70 K, which reflects the real-space fictitious magnetic field proportional to a geometric quantity (scalar spin chirality) of the underlying spin texture. From the neutron diffraction study, it is anticipated that a relatively short-period (3-6 nm) noncoplanar spin structure is stabilized from the proper screw state in a magnetic field to produce the largest topological Hall response among the B20-type (FeSi-type) chiral magnets.     

Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy on self-assembly of a glycine/Cu(111) nanocavity array

The step-by-step analysis of a hierarchical self-assembly revealed the incorporation of nanocavity blocks in a metastable orientation to stabilize the organized array. The confinement of 2D electrons by a quantum corral was verified. Furthermore, manipulation of an isolated C(60) molecule was realized using nanocavities of ～1.3 nm diameter as a template.     

Magnetic transition in dimerized radical cation salt of (BPDT-TTF)2ICl2 studied by heat capacity measurements

Thermodynamic investigation using the relaxation calorimetry technique and the microchip calorimetry technique is performed to clarify low-temperature behaviors of a radical cation salt consisting of a donor molecule of bispropylenedithiotetrathiafulvalene (BPDT-TTF) and a linear anion of ${{\text{ICl}}_{2}^{-}}$ ICl 2 ? . This compound has a layered structure similar to numerous BEDT-TTF compounds. The donor molecules form a dimerized arrangement in the layer. Temperature dependence of heat capacity obtained by the relaxation technique shows a broad hump structure around 20–25 K corresponding to the temperature where the magnetic susceptibility shows a drastic decrease due to the formation of the singlet spin state. The microchip calorimetry technique detected a step-like anomaly around 23 K in the temperature dependence of C _p T ^?1 of which entropy is evaluated as only few % of Rln2 corresponding to the full entropy of localized π-electrons located on each dimer unit. The negligibly small T-linear term in the low-temperature heat capacity and absence of magnetic fields dependence below 3.2 K predict opening of rigid gap structure in the spin excitations, which is consistent with a spin-singlet formation due to the formation of spin-Peierls type ordering or charge ordering state.     

Development of heat capacity measurement system for single crystals of molecule-based compounds

We report on construction of a new low temperature heat capacity measurement system. This system was designed for performing thermodynamic investigation by thermal relaxation technique for small amount of samples at extremely low temperature region between 70 mK and 10 K. Two different calorimetry cells for this system were designed. One is a usual-type calorimetry cell consisting of tiny chip-type thermometer and strain gauge heater. The size of the sample stage has been reduced for measuring small samples. The other is designed for performing heat capacity measurements under magnetic fields of which magnitude and direction are accurately controlled. The calorimetry cells with heat capacity measurement unit can be mounted on a handy top-loading type dilution refrigerator of which outer diameter including the adiabatic space is 27 mm. We discuss basic performance and specification of the constructed cells and low temperature heat capacity data of an organic charge transfer salt obtained by this system.     

Liquid phase separation of polyaromatics on [Cu2(BDC)2(dabco)

The porous coordination polymer (PCP) [Cu(2)(BDC)(2)(dabco)] is capable of selectively adsorbing up to 25 wt % of either 1-methylnaphthalene or 2-methylnaphthalene. Uptakes of unsubstituted naphthalene and 1,4-dimethylnaphthalene are significantly lower (7-13 wt %), suggesting that monomethyl substituted polyaromatics can be separated from the other fractions. Furthermore, this PCP can perform the difficult separation of 1-methylnaphthalene from 2-methylnaphthalene with separation factors as high as 2.6, proving that specific interactions of the methyl group with the lattice play an important role in determining the adsorption selectivity.     

Facile, rapid, and high-yield synthesis of pillar[5]arene from commercially available reagents and its X-ray crystal structure

We monitored the progress of formation of dimethoxypillar[5]arene by size-exclusion chromatography. Surprisingly, the cyclization reaction completely finished in just 3 min. By improving the reaction conditions and purification process, we successfully obtained dimethoxypillar[5]arene in a short time and in high yield (71%) from commercially available reagents. By improving the deprotection reaction of the methoxy moieties, pillar[5]arene was isolated quantitatively. Single crystal X-ray analysis confirmed the structure of pillar[5]arene in the solid state.     

Regioselective hydroxylation of the xylyl linker in a diiron(III) complex having a carboxylate-rich ligand with H2O2

Reaction of a diiron(III) complex having a xylta4- ligand (N,N,N',N'-m-xylylenediamine tetraacetate) with H2O2 resulted in regioselective hydroxylation of the m-xylyl linker. The reaction mimics the self-hydroxylation of a phenylalanine side chain found for ribonucleotide reductase (R2-W48F/D84E).