Separation of Linear and Branched Alkanes Using Host–Guest Complexation of Cyclic and Branched Alkane Vapors by Crystal State Pillar[6]arene

Activated crystals of pillar[6]arene produced by removing the solvent upon heating were able to take up branched and cyclic alkane vapors as a consequence of their gate‐opening behavior. The uptake of branched and cyclic alkane vapors by the activated crystals of pillar[6]arene induced a crystal transformation to form one‐dimensional channel structures. However, the activated crystals of pillar[6]arene hardly took up linear alkane vapors because the cavity size of pillar[6]arene is too large to form stable complexes with linear alkanes. This shape‐selective uptake behavior of pillar[6]arene was further utilized for improving the research octane number of an alkane mixture of isooctane and n‐heptane: interestingly, the research octane number was dramatically improved from a low research octane number (17 %) to a high research octane number (>99 %) using the activated crystals of pillar[6]arene.     

Enantioselective adsorption of phenylalanine onto self-assembled monolayers of 1,1'binaphthalene-2,2'-dithiol on gold

Self-assembled monolayer of atropisomeric compound, 1,1'-binaphthalene-2,2'-dithiol (BNSH), provides a field for chiral discrimination. The two-dimensional chiral arrangement with screw-like units, each of which is composed of three BNSH molecules, plays an important role in the enantioselectivity of adsorption of phenylalanine, as revealed by a quartz crystal microbalance technique.     

Successive determinations of210PB,210PO,226RA,228RA and selected actinides in seawater and sea sediment

Plutonium 239,240 was measured using large-volume water samples from the North Pacific and its adjacent seas. The vertical profiles of^239,240Pu show features that are similar to those reported in earlier papers with a subsurface maxima of around 660 m and a significant concentration increase in the North Pacific bottom waters. It became evident that the^239,240Pu concentration in deep bottom water is proportional to the inventory of the nuclides in the overlying water column and that the appearent distribution ratios of the nuclides between deep-sea sediment and bottom water lie in a relatively narrow range of about 2×10⁴ to 10⁵, independent of sea area and warter depth. The latter implies that^239,240Pu may follow a reversible-type partition process at a deep water/sediment interface. In order to substantiate this assumption, it is desirable to study the phenomenon for Pu as well as for other long-lived radionuclides, both artificial and natural. From this point of view, an analytical procedure for the successive determination of selected long-lived radionuclides was studied.     

Analysis of the expression of two phosphoglycerate kinase genes in a mouse cultured cell line during activation and inactivation of the c-myc gene

The effect of a change in the concentration of c-myc protein on the expression of genes for two phosphoglycerate kinase isozymes was investigated. The steady state levels of messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) for sperm-type and non-sperm-type proteins were determined by blot hybridization using the RNA of the mouse cell line 38-2 containing the inducible rat c-myc gene cultured under various conditions. Without induction the c-myc gene. mRNA for non-sperm-type protein was detected at a level that remained essentially constant during both activation and inactivation of the c-myc gene. mRNA for sperm-type protein was not detected in 38-2 cells cultured under any conditions used. Change in the amount of c-myc protein alone does not appear to bring about a switch of the expression of the two phosphoglycerate kinase genes during spermatogenesis in mouse testis.     

In situ observation of phase separation processes in gelling alkoxy-derived silica system by light scattering method

The investigation of phase separation processes induced by polymerization reactions of tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) was attempted by a time-resolved light scattering method for TMOS-formamide-water system under the acid-catalyzed condition. Since the early stage of the phase separation exhibits very fast kinetics and weak scattering intensity, the experimental set-up was designed so as to reduce the experimental error and to obtain higher time resolution by using a laser beam expander. For the gels whose morphologies are interconnected structure and aggregates of particles, it was experimentally found that the wavelength of the concentration fluctuation in the early stage of phase separation was time-independent and its amplitude grew exponentially with time. This suggests that these samples phase-separate by spinodal decomposition mechanism. In the later stages of phase separation, the coarsening process and the following structure-freezing process by gel-network formation were observed.