[N′‐Benzoyl‐N,N‐bis(2‐pyridylmethyl‐κN)­ethyl­enedi­amine‐κN]chloro­copper(II) hexa­fluoro­phosphate

The title mononuclear copper(II) complex, [CuCl(C₂₁H₂₂­N₄O)]­PF₆, shows a distorted square‐planar coordination and the benzoyl­amino N atom does not coordinate to the Cu atom.     

Visible light-emitting and temperature-sensitive copolymer gel/ZnO nanocomposites loaded with surface-modified ZnO nanoparticles having polyethylene glycol chains

New visible light-emitting and temperature-sensitive poly(VCL-co-SA)/ZnO gel nanocompsites (GNs) 4 loaded with surface-modified ZnO nanoparticles NPs 3 with polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains were successfully prepared by the cross-linking of N-vinylcaprolactam (VCL), sodium acrylate (SA) and tetraethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDM) in the presence of NPs 3. The NPs 3 having nanostructured size were prepared from ZnO NPs 2 with 2-bromo-2-methylpropionyl linkages on the surface, and sodium alcoholate of polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether (PEGME). The NPs 3 and the GNs 4 were characterized by FTIR, UV–vis absorption and photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopies, X-ray analysis measurements, TEM and SEM observations and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements. The measurements indicated that the GNs 4 with wurtzite crystal structures based on the ZnO NPs show absorptions and yellow light-emitting properties arising from the NPs 3, except for the GNs 4 containing a high weight % of NPs 3. The size of the GNs 4 drastically decreased with increasing temperature in the range of 20–35 °C, probably because of the induction of steric hindrance and enhancement of hydrophilic PEG chain concentrations inside the GN networks 4.     

Fluorescent additive for estimation of compatibility of polyester blend by imipramine-containing polymer

The effects of adding imipramine-containing polymer (PImip-Fl) in two kinds of polyester/lysine triisocyanate (LTI) blends were investigated. PImip-Fl was prepared by Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction of dibromoimipramine hydrochloride and dioctylfluorene diboronic acid. The addition of PImip-Fl gave fluorescence to resins [poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)], and its fluorescent maximum wavelength (λ_max) depended on the resin. PImip-Fl was used as a functional additive for the estimation of compatibility of PLA/PCL blend composite. The addition of LTI to the resins/PImip-Fl blend composites afforded a shorter wavelength shift of the fluorescent λ_max. This suggested that the method using PImip-Fl is adaptive for the estimation of compatibility of the blend composite.     

Total synthesis of tryprostatins A and B

Three distinct synthetic routes to the 2-prenyl tryptophan core skeleton of tryprostatins and their total syntheses are described. The strategies include a traditional gramine-mediated coupling reaction, Fürstner indole synthesis, and our radical-mediated indole synthesis from o-alkenylphenyl isocyanide. The establishment of reliable conditions for the radical-mediated construction of indoles via a low-temperature radical initiator V-70 (2,2′-azobis(4-methoxy-2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile)) led to the highly efficient syntheses of tryprostatins A and B.     

Sensitivity of minimaxity and admissibility in the estimation of a positive normal mean

On the problem of estimating a positive normal mean with known variance, it is well known that one minimax admissible estimator is the generalized Bayes one with respect to the non-informative prior measure, the Lebesgue measure, restricted on the positive half-line. When the true variance is misspecified, however, it is shown that this estimator does not always retain minimaxity and admisssibility. In particular, it is almost surely inadmissible in the misspecification case.     

Structure–activity relationship of dihydroimidazo-, dihydropyrimido,tetrahydrodiazepino-[2,1-b]-thiazoles,and -benzothiazoles as an acylation catalyst

Cyclic isothioureas 1, 2, 3, and 4 were synthesized through a four-step procedure from the corresponding ortho-bromoanilines 10 via Pd- or Cu-catalyzed cyclization–benzothiazole formation. Nonbenzo analogues 7, 8, and 9 were synthesized by a condensation reaction of cyclic thioureas 15 and α-bromoacetophenones 14. Investigations of the acylation reactions of 1-phenylethanol with acid anhydrides in the presence of these cyclic isothiourea catalysts revealed their structure–activity relationships. Remarkable electronic effects resulting from substituent(s) on a benzo or phenyl moiety and the influence of the size of the annulating ring were observed. Introduction of an electron-donating substituent(s) enhanced the reaction rate. A few substitution effects on chiral catalysts of type 3 and 7 were also studied.     

Photoreversible Gelation of a Triblock Copolymer in an Ionic Liquid

The reversible micellization and sol–gel transition of block copolymer solutions in an ionic liquid (IL) triggered by a photostimulus is described. The ABA triblock copolymer employed, denoted P(AzoMA‐r‐NIPAm)‐b‐PEO‐b‐P(AzoMA‐r‐NIPAm)), has a B block composed of an IL‐soluble poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). The A block consists of a random copolymer including thermosensitive N‐isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm) units and a methacrylate with an azobenzene chromophore in the side chain (AzoMA). A phototriggered reversible unimer‐to‐micelle transition of a dilute ABA triblock copolymer (1 wt %) was observed in an IL, 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C₄mim]PF₆), at an intermediate “bistable” temperature (50 °C). The system underwent a reversible sol–gel transition cycle at the bistable temperature (53 °C), with reversible association/fragmentation of the polymer network resulting from the phototriggered self‐assembly of the ABA triblock copolymer (20 wt %) in [C₄mim]PF₆.     

Genetically-increased taste cell population with Gα-gustducin-coupled sweet receptors is associated with increase of gurmarin-sensitive taste nerve fibers in mice

Background  

The peptide gurmarin is a selective sweet response inhibitor for rodents. In mice, gurmarin sensitivity differs among strains with gurmarin-sensitive C57BL and gurmarin-poorly-sensitive BALB strains. In C57BL mice, sweet-responsive fibers of the chorda tympani (CT) nerve can be divided into two distinct populations, gurmarin-sensitive (GS) and gurmarin-insensitive (GI) types, suggesting the existence of two distinct reception pathways for sweet taste responses. By using the dpa congenic strain (dpa CG) whose genetic background is identical to BALB except that the gene(s) controlling gurmarin sensitivity are derived from C57BL, we previously found that genetically-elevated gurmarin sensitivity in dpa CG mice, confirmed by using behavioral response and whole CT nerve response analyses, was linked to a greater taste cell population co-expressing sweet taste receptors and a Gα protein, Gα-gustducin. However, the formation of neural pathways from the increased taste cell population to nerve fibers has not yet been examined.     

Shape modeling of mineral dust particles for light-scattering calculations using the spatial Poisson-Voronoi tessellation

We present a shape model of mineral dust particles for use in light-scattering calculations. A spatial Poisson-Voronoi tessellation was applied to simulate the aggregate structure and, therefore, the rough surface of the mineral particles. To develop the shape model, we took into account statistics of shape parameters derived from the cross-sectional areas, maximum dimensions, and perimeters of field-collected dust particles. Light-scattering properties of the modeled Voronoi aggregates were examined by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The results of randomly oriented scattering properties agreed with previously reported laboratory measurements of mineral dust particles.     

The decomposition and measurement of the interdependency between second-order stationary processes

Summary For a given pair of multivariate stationary processes, the process of one-way effect is extracted from each of the processes. Each process is decomposed into two orthogonal processes, namely, into the process generated by the one-way effect of the other process and the process orthogonal to it. Based on the decomposition, three measures characterizing the interdependency of the pair of processes are introduced. They are the measure of association, the measure of one-way effect and the measure of reciprocity. Each of the measures is defined as overall as well as frequencywise measure. The paper shows that the measure of association is equal to the sum of the others. It discusses the relationships of those measures to the ones proposed by Gel'fand-Yaglom and by Geweke.This paper is partially supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education Grant for Scientific Research No. C02630010