Cyclization reaction of polyacrylonitrile and poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) studied by PVT measurements

Pressure, volume, temperature (PVT) measurements reveal that during the intramolecular cyclization reaction of poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) and poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN) the volume decreases. This volume contraction becomes smaller with increasing styrene content in the random copolymers and should be related to the simultaneous decrease of longer acrylonitrile homo-sequences. The onset temperature of the cyclization reaction is raised with higher styrene contents in the random copolymers. Thus, it can be excluded that the cyclization reaction has a major influence on the discoloration process of SAN samples having relatively small acrylonitrile contents (less than 50 mol-%) during thermal annealing below 300°C.     

Effects of Roxadustat on Erythropoietin Production in the Rat Body

Anemia is a major complication of chronic renal failure. To treat this anemia, prolylhydroxylase domain enzyme (PHD) inhibitors as well as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) have been used. Although PHD inhibitors rapidly stimulate erythropoietin (Epo) production, the precise sites of Epo production following the administration of these drugs have not been identified. We developed a novel method for the detection of the Epo protein that employs deglycosylation-coupled Western blotting. With protein deglycosylation, tissue Epo contents can be quantified over an extremely wide range. Using this method, we examined the effects of the PHD inhibitor, Roxadustat (ROX), and severe hypoxia on Epo production in various tissues in rats. We observed that ROX increased Epo mRNA expression in both the kidneys and liver. However, Epo protein was detected in the kidneys but not in the liver. Epo protein was also detected in the salivary glands, spleen, epididymis and ovaries. However, both PHD inhibitors (ROX) and severe hypoxia increased the Epo protein abundance only in the kidneys. These data show that, while Epo is produced in many tissues, PHD inhibitors as well as severe hypoxia regulate Epo production only in the kidneys.     

Change in dislocation distribution of KCl single crystals during thermal cyclic annealing

The change in dislocation distribution of KCl single crystals during thermal cyclic annealing was studied by etch pit method. The results obtained are summarized as follows. (1) In contrast to the case in Cu (KITAJIMA et al.; HASEGAWA et al.), the dislocation distribution in KCl crystals became non-uniform with an increase in the cyclic annealing time, i.e., in the region near the surface, many sub-boundaries were formed, but in the interior, the density of dislocations and sub-boundaries decreased. The cyclic annealing is more effective in reducing the dislocation density than the isothermal annealing. (2) The longer the period of thermal cycle, the more effective in reducing the dislocation density. (3) The larger the temperature difference between the maximum and minimum during one cycle, the more effective in reducing the dislocation density. (4) In the Sr-doped crystals, the thermal cyclic annealing was also effective in reducing the dislocation density within subgrains but sub-boundary length per unit area slightly increased by the cyclic annealing. (5) When the samples were annealed under the atmosphere of Cl₂, the dislocation density remarkably increased against our expectation, although the scattering centres had disappeared by this treatment.     

Spectrophotometric determination of titanium with N-m-Tolyl-N-phenylhydroxylamine and its application to environmental samples

N-m-Tolyl-n-phenylhydroxylamine is proposed for the spectrophotometric determination of titanium. The reagent forms a yellow chloroform-soluble complex with titanium in media with a hydrochloric acid concentration of at least 9M. The apparent molar absorptivity at 380 nm is 7.4 x 10(3) 1.mole(-1).cm(-1). The optimum final concentration range is 0-54 mug of titanium in 10 ml of chloroform. The complex contains the metal and reagent in 1:2 ratio. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of titanium in coal, coal fly-ash, pond sediment and asphalt.     

Preparation and dehydration behaviour of thomsonite with ideal chemical composition

Thomsonite with ideal chemical composition and with an ordered framework structure was synthesised hydrothermally from zeolite Na?A, which was ground to X-ray amorphous, with 0.05 mol dm^?3 CaCl₂ solution at 200°C. The dehydration behaviour of the prepared thomsonite was examined by TG-DTA. It was revealed that thomsonite lost most of zeolitic water below 450°C in three steps at about 180°, 340° and 390°C. The peak profiles of, the two higher-temperature endotherms were sharp and similar, and the weight loss at each step was approximately equal.     

A sensitive and selective determination method of histamine by HPLC with intramolecular excimer-forming derivatization and fluorescence detection

A highly sensitive, selective and simple method is described for the determination of histamine by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. The method is based on an intramolecular excimer-forming fluorescence derivatization of histamine with 4-(1-pyrene)butyric acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (PSE), followed by reversed-phase HPLC. Histamine, having two amino moieties in a molecule, was converted to the dipyrene-labeled derivative by reaction with PSE. The derivative afforded intramolecular excimer fluorescence (450-540 nm), which can clearly be discriminated from the monomer fluorescence (370-420 nm) emitted from PSE. Typically, a 10 micro L sample solution was mixed with 100 micro L of derivatization reagent solution, which was a mixture of 0.5 mm PSE in acetonitrile and 0.5 mm potassium carbonate in water (8:2, v/v). The derivatization was carried out at 100 degrees C for 90 min. The PSE derivative of histamine could be separated by reversed-phase ODS column with isocratic elution using acetonitrile:water (82:18, v/v) containing 0.03% triethylamine. The detection limit (singnal-to-noise ratio = 3) of histamine was 0.5 fmol for a 30 micro L injection. The method was successfully applied to the determination of histamine in human urine, and had enough selectivity and sensitivity for urinary histamine quantification.     

Spin-crossover phenomenon of the assembled iron complexes with 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane as bridging ligand studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy

The transition temperatures between high- and low-spin states of the assembled spin-crossover complexes, Fe(NCX)₂(bpa)₂(guest) (X = S, Se, BH₃; bpa = 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane; guest = biphenyl, 2-nitrobiphenyl, diphenylmethane, or 1,4-dichlorobenzene), were compared with the Mössbauer parameters. The transition temperature increases when the QS value of Fe^II high-spin state becomes small. The transition temperature also increases by changing the anion from NCS to NCSe and then to NCBH₃.