A new tomato pregnane glycoside from the overripe fruits

A new pregnane glycoside has been isolated from the overripe fruits of Cherry tomato (Mini tomato), Lycopersicon esculentum var. cerasiforme (DUNAL) ALEF. The structure was determined to be 3-O-beta-lycotetraosyl 3beta-hydroxy-5alpha-pregn-16-en-20-one on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. The seasonal variation of the tomato saponin is discussed.     

On the origin of the ultrafast internal conversion of electronically excited pyrimidine bases

The ultrafast radiationless decay of photoexcited uracil and cytosine has been investigated by ab initio quantum chemical methods based on CIS and CR-EOM-CCSD(T) electronic energy calculations at optimized CIS geometries. The calculated potential energy profiles indicate that the S(1) --> S(0) internal conversion of the pyrimidine bases occurs through a barrierless state switch from the initially excited (1)pipi state to the out-of-plane deformed excited state of biradical character, which intersects the ground state at a lower energy. This three-state nonradiative decay mechanism predicts that replacement of the C5 hydrogen by fluorine introduces an energy barrier for the initial state switch, whereas replacement of the C6 hydrogen by fluorine does not. These predictions are borne out by the very different fluorescence yields of 5-fluorinated bases relative to the corresponding 6-fluorinated bases. It is concluded from these results that the origin of the ultrafast radiationless decay is the same for the two pyrimidine bases.     

Hierarchically organized architecture of potassium hydrogen phthalate and poly(acrylic acid): toward a general strategy for biomimetic crystal design

A hierarchically organized architecture in multiple scales was generated from potassium hydrogen phthalate crystals and poly(acrylic acid) based on our novel biomimetic approach with an exquisite association of polymers on crystallization.     

Multiparticle production in pTa interactions at 8 GeV/c

pTa interactions have been studied. The total inelastic cross section, multiplicities, net charge distributions and inclusive momentum and rapidity spectra for produced particles are reported. The correlations between fast and slow particles are presented and the reaction mechanisms for multiparticle production in pTa interactions are discussed.     

On the outer automorphism group of a hyperbolic group

LetG be a one-ended, word-hyperbolic group. Let Γ be an irreducible lattice in a connected semi-simple Lie group of rank at least 2. Ifh: Γ→Out(G) is a homomorphism, then Im(h) is finite. Dedicated to Professor Takushiro Ochiai for his sixtieth birthday     

Degradation characteristics of YBCO coated conductors due to fault-current in power cable applications

In high temperature superconductor applications used in electric power devices, YBCO coated conductors may be subjected to short-circuit fault-currents that are 10–30 times the normal operating current. These over-currents cause heat generation, resulting in I_c degradation of the YBCO coated conductor. Therefore, it is necessary to fully investigate the degradation characteristics of YBCO coated conductors. We previously conducted preliminary experiments on the degradation of YBCO sample tapes resulting from the over-current pulse drive.