pH-Sensitive Oscillatory Motion of a Urease Motor on the Urea Aqueous Phase

A self-propelled object coupled with an enzyme reaction between urease and urea was investigated at the air/aqueous interface. A plastic object that was fixed to a urease-immobilized filter paper was used as a self-propelled object, termed a urease motor, placed on an aqueous urea solution. The driving force of the urease motor is the difference in the surface tension around the object. Oscillatory motion or no motion was triggered depending on the initial pH of the urea solution. Both the frequency and maximum speed of the oscillatory motion varied depending on the initial pH of the water phase. The mechanisms underlying the oscillatory motion and no motion were discussed in relation to the bell-shaped enzyme activity of urease in the enzyme reaction and the surface tension around the urease motor.     

Stable all-optical formation of Bose–Einstein condensate using pointing-stabilized optical trapping beams

By stabilizing the beam pointing of optical trapping beams, we have succeeded in stable formation of Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of ⁸⁷Rb with all-optical method. The thermal effect of acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is usually one of the most serious problems to induce beam-pointing instability, especially for high power CO₂ laser. By passing the beam through AOM twice, we have improved the beam pointing from about 4.8 mrad to less than 0.4 mrad, which has been experimentally confirmed to be small enough to stably form BEC at the crossed region of CO₂ lasers as well as to perform experiments using an optical lattice which might have been affected by beam-pointing instability. PACS 32.80.Pj; 42.79.Jq; 03.75.Mn     

Application of total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to small glass fragments.

Total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF) has been applied for trace elemental analysis of small glass fragments. A small glass sample (a fragment with weight less than 0.5 mg) was decomposed by 100 microg of HF/HNO3 acid; the material was condensed to 10 microl and was dried on a Si wafer. Since the size of the dried residue on the Si wafer was less than 1 cm in diameter, an incident X-ray beam with about 1 cm in width could effectively excite elemental components in such a small glass fragment. The precision of the present technique was checked by analyzing the glass fragments (<0.5 mg) from NIST SRM612; the relative standard deviations (RSD) of less than 8.1% were achieved for elemental ratios that were normalized by Sr. Fragments (<0.5 mg) obtained from 23 figured sheet glasses were used as samples for estimating the utility of this technique to forensic discrimination. Comparison of five elemental ratios of Ti/Sr, Mn/Sr, Zn/Sr, Rb/Sr, and Pb/Sr calculated from X-ray fluorescence spectra was effective in distinguishing glass fragments that could not be differentiated by their refractive indexes (RI).     

Polybenzimidazoles containing anthracene photodimer

Polybenzimidazoles that contained anthracene photodimer were prepared. The molecular weights of the polymers prepared by the photopolymerization of bis-anthrylbenzimidazoles were limited by the precipitation of the resulting polymers from the reaction organic solvents. Higher molecular weight polymers were obtained by the photopolymerization of bis-anthryl-Schiff's bases, followed by the oxidation of the resulting polymers. These polymers were soluble in acidic solvents such as formic and sulfuric acids but were insoluble in organic solvents.     

Preparation and certification of the new reference materials; plastics (disk form, JSAC 0621-0625) for determination of mercury using x-ray fluorescent analysis.

The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry has developed some new plastic certified reference materials (CRMs) for the analysis of mercury in polyester disks using XRF analysis. These CRMs (named as JSAC 0621-0625) were prepared by casting polyesters including a toluene solution of organometallic compounds as a standard. Concentrations of the five levels of mercury ranged from 0 to 250 mg/kg. Homogeneity tests of prepared disks had shown excellent results. Interlaboratory comparison study for the certification was performed by 15 laboratory participants. The z-scores in robust statistical method was applied for the evaluation of outliers. The certified values were assigned after discarding outliers. The uncertainties of certified values were determined as the confidence levels of 95%.     

Polyaddition reaction of biscarbodiimides. II. Synthesis of polyguanidines by polyaddition reaction of biscarbodiimides with diamines

A series of polyguanidines was prepared by the polyaddition reaction of biscarbodiimides with diamines. The polyaddition reaction was carried out in solution. The polymers thus obtained had intrinsic viscosities up to 0.84 and molecular weights up to 15000. The structure of the polymers was identified by comparison of their infrared spectra with those of model compounds, elementary analysis, and a study of the reaction conditions. Thermogravimetric study indicated that the polyguanidines decomposed over 170°C under nitrogen. The polyguanidines were highly resistant to hydrolytic degradation by strong acid or alkali. The polyguanidines had basic groups and formed stable hydrochloric salts when they were treated with hydrochloric acid.     

Polymerization and copolymerization of methacrylic esters derived from glycidyl methacrylate

Copolymerization of methacrylic esters derived from glycidyl methacrylate and nucleophiles with styrene was carried out. The monomer reactivity ratios of these methacrylic esters were varied with the alkoxy groups of the esters and the solvent used.     

Polymerization of α-amino acid N-carboxy anhydride. IX. Copolymerization of α-amino acid N-carboxy anhydride in heterogeneous system

Copolymerization of NCA's was undertaken in a heterogeneous system in acetonitrile, which is not a solvent of the polypeptides. The reactivity ratio was calculated by using the Lewis-Mayo equation. Further, the conversion rate in the copolymerization and the configuration of the copolymer produced were compared with those of the copolymerization in the homogeneous system in nitrobenzene, in which the copolypeptides are swollen. The rate of copolymerization in acetonitrile was between the rates of polymerization of the individual monomers. It has been reported that the configuration of the copolymer obtained in dimethylformamide, in which the copolypeptides are swollen, is of the block type. On the other hand, many polypeptides obtained in acetonitrile, which is not a solvent of the copolypeptides, had a random configuration near to an alternating configuration.     

Polymerization of methacrylates. I. Polymerization reactivity of picryl methacrylate

The polymerization of picryl (PMA), 2,4-dinitrophenyl (2,4-DNMA),2,6-dinitrophenyl (2,6-DNMA), 2-methyl-4,6-dinitrophenyl (MDNMA), and 2,6-dimethylphenyl methacrylates (DMMA) was carried out in benzene at 60°C. PMA, 2,6-DNMA, and MDNMA did not undergo radical homopolymerization, while 2,4-DNMA and DMMA did. The results suggest that the growing radical readily attacks the oxygen atom of the nitro group at the 2 position of the terminal phenyl group due to the steric effect of the substituent at the 6 position, resulting in chain termination. PMA formed a charge-transfer complex with 2-naphthyl methacrylate (NMA). The stoichiometric composition of this complex was shown to be 1:1 molar complex. PMA was readily copolymerized with NMA. The amount of solvent affected the composition of the copolymer obtained at a given same mole fraction in feed. The results suggest that charge-transfer interaction between the ester groups affects the copolymerization mechanism.