Conformational reduction of DOPA in the gas phase studied by laser desorption supersonic jet laser spectroscopy

The conformational reduction in catecholamine neurotransmitters was studied by resonance enhanced multi photon ionization (REMPI), ultraviolet-ultraviolet (UV-UV) hole burning and infrared (IR) dip spectroscopy with applying a laser desorption supersonic jet technique to DOPA, which is one of the catecholamine neurotransmitters and has one more phenolic OH group than tyrosine. It is concluded that DOPA has a single observable conformer in the gas phase at low temperature. Quantum chemical calculations at several levels with or without the dispersion correction were also carried out to study stable conformations. From the comparison between the computational IR spectra and the experimental ones, the most stable structure was determined. It is strongly suggested that the conformational reduction is caused by electrostatic interactions, such as a dipole-dipole interaction, between the chain and OH groups.     

Fabrication and evaluation of photonic metamaterial crystal

Many researching efforts have been reported to seek various fundamental LC resonance structures, recently. But still the Split Ring Resonator (SRR) is the most famous and major fundamental LC-resonance structure used in the metamaterial. We employed SRR structure as the fundamental LC-resonance mechanism to fabricate photonic crystal with periodic arrangement of two different metamaterial areas composed from SRR arrays on the dielectric substrate. We developed Photonic Metamaterial Crystal (PMC) to realize the more advanced and versatile functions of the metamaterial by 1 dimensional or 2 dimensional periodic arranging of two metamaterial sections which have different dispersion properties due to the different size of SRR structures each other. In this paper, we report the fabrication process, estimation of PMC properties and some possible future application prospects, for instance the PMC waveguide structures and nonlinear properties of PMC observed as selective LC-resonant properties in Raman mapping analysis of PMC. These are quite interesting characters of PMC and the attractive applications as the PMC devices.     

Angle-resolved photoemission study of CoSi2 nanofilms grown on Si(111) substrates

We have carried out an angle-resolved photoemission study for CoSi₂ nanofilms grown on the Si(111)-7×7 substrates. The surface of CoSi₂(111) nanofilm changes from the bulk-truncated surface to the surface with additional Si-bilayer by annealing at higher temperature above 825 K. The angle-resolved photoemission spectra of the CoSi₂ nanofilm annealed at 853 K show the spectral features originated from the surface resonance state on the CoSi₂ surface terminated by Si-bilayer. From the detailed photoemission study, we discuss the surface electronic structure in CoSi₂(111) nanofilms grown on Si(111) substrates.     

Gas permeation through hydrogels : I. Gel cellophane membranes

Permeabilities and diffusion coefficients of various gases, Ar, N₂, O₂, CO₂, CH₄, C₂H₄, C₃H₈ and C₄H₁₀, were measured for Water-swollen gel cellophane membranes. No dependence of permeabilities on gas pressure below 1 atm was found. It was observed that the permeability coefficients were not related linearly to the coefficients in bulk water. For the two states of water in the membrane, an analytical method is presented to estimate the diffusion coefficients and the solubilities in free water and non-freezing water. It was found that the diffusion coefficients in non-freezing water were lower than those in free water, and the solubilities in non-freezing water were higher than in free water for all gases studied except CO₂ and C₂H₄, which gave reverse results.     

A novel cyclization reaction of oxidodiazoalkanes: formation of pyrazoles and pyridazines

The thermal decomposition of dialkali metal salts of β- and γ-hydroxyketone tosyl-hydrazones in refluxing DME produced pyrazoles and pyridazines, respectively.     

Selective cleavage of ethers by sodium iodide-acyl chloride

Cyclic and acyclic ethers are regioselectively cleaved at less substituted α-carbon-oxygen bond in the absence of Lewis acid by the reagent system of sodium iodide and acyl chlorides.     

Time-resolved total internal reflection fluorescence spectroscopy of polymer films

Using total internal reflection, the possibility of a subnanosecond fluorescence spectroscopy for elucidating photophysical and photochemical processes of polymer surface is demonstrated. The thickness which can be studied under the present experimental conditions is of the order of 0.01 μm.