Cerasome as an Organic-Inorganic Vesicular Nanohybrid: Characterization of Cerasome-Forming Lipids having a Single or a Dual Trialkoxysilyl Head

Morphological characterization of the organic-inorganic vesicular nanohybrids, Cerasomes, was performed in aqueous media from two aspects. Firstly, a novel Cerasome-forming lipid having two triethoxysilyl groups in the head moiety was synthesized and the physical property of the Cerasome was investigated. While the morphological stability of the Cerasomes, as evaluated from the vesicular collapse behavior against a micelle-forming nonionic surfactant, Triton-X 100, was extremely higher than that of the conventional phospholipid liposome, the stabilities were comparable to each other for the Cerasomes derived from the dual- and single-head lipids. On the other hand, the surface property of the Cerasome formed with the dual-head lipid more closely resembled the colloidal silica particles rather than that derived from the single-head lipid, as suggested by zeta-potential measurements. Secondly, the effect of the media pH on the morphological stability of the Cerasome formed with the single-head lipid was evaluated and appeared as a time difference in obtaining the morphological stability of the Cerasome. These morphological characteristics of the Cerasomes could be mainly owing to the development of the siloxane network on the vesicular surface.     

A critical review on the dynamics of Jovian atmospheres

Some basic theoretical issues of the Jovian atmospheric dynamics are discussed. Those include the depth of the motions, thermal convection both with deep and shallow configurations, the two-dimensional turbulence theory and its relevance. The refractive index analysis is suggested to interpret the coherent structures like Jupiter's Great Red Spot in terms of Charney-Drazin constraint based on the observations. A possibility of Jovian data assimilation is proposed as a future direction.     

Synthesis, characterization and FET properties of novel dithiazolylbenzothiadiazole derivatives

Dithiazolylbenzothiadiazoles easily obtained have high electron affinity and the FET device of a trifluoromethylphenyl derivative exhibited a good n-type performance with high electron mobility.     

Incorporation of lipid domains in Cerasome, a morphologically-stable organic-inorganic vesicular nanohybrid

To extend the concept of the Cerasome, an organic-inorganic vesicular nanohybrid, this paper investigates the preparation and characterization of a “mixed” Cerasome. The system consists of a Cerasome-forming lipid 1, a cationic synthetic lipid 2, and a zwitterionic phospholipid 3. Lipid mixtures of 1 and 2 or 1 and 3 were used to prepare the mixed Cerasomes. Their lipid distributions were examined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), which showed that 1 and 2 (or 1 and 3) were phase-separated in the mixed Cerasomes. These results seem to be mainly attributable to the polymerizable nature of 1. Results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) showed that 1 and 3 were both incorporated into a single Cerasome, not macroscopically separated to form separate vesicles from each lipid component. Mixed Cerasomes of 1 and 2 showed high morphological stability against a membrane-solubilizing surfactant, incorporating up to 70% of 2. On the other hand, the mixed Cerasomes from 1 and 3 were less stable than the mixed Cerasomes from 1 and 2. This relative instability might be attributable to differences between the mixed Cerasomes from 1 and 2 and 1 and 3 in terms of their vesicular sizes, lipid domain sizes, and their relative effectiveness for siloxane network formation. These results strongly support the formation of mixed Cerasomes that have lipid domains in-plane. Systems described in this study are useful to prepare variously mixed Cerasomes that have different surface functionalities and in-plane lipid distribution, but which have high morphological stability.     

One-step furan ring formation: Synthesis of furo[3,2-h]quinolones

The one-pot reaction of ethyl 1-cyclopropyl-6,7,8-trifluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylate ( 6 ) with tert-butyl acetoacetate gave 3-tert-butyl 7-ethyl 9-cyclopropyl-4-fluoro-6,9-dihydro-2-methyl-6-oxofuro[3,2-h]quinoline-3,7-dicarboxylate ( 5 ). This regioselective cyclization was rationalized by the Hard and Soft Acids and Bases principle. By use of a similar furan-forming reaction, we prepared 2-(amino-methyl)furo[3,2-h]quinoline-7-carboxylic acid 4 . Compound 4 showed weak antibacterial activity.     

Electronic structures of exohedral lanthanide-C60 clusters

We have studied the electronic structures of several gas phase exohedral lanthanide (Ln)-C(60) clusters, Ln(n)C(60) (Ln=Pr, Ho, Tb, Tm, Eu, and Yb) with n=1-4, by photoionization spectroscopy of the neutrals and photoelectron spectroscopy of their anions. Both of the spectroscopic analyses reveal that most of the Ln atoms preferably take +3 oxidation states, while Eu atoms alone assume +2 oxidation states, and that C(60) accepts up to twelve donated electrons in Ln(n)C(60). An additional photoionization examination of the oxygen atom mixing into the Ln(n)C(60) clusters demonstrated that each oxygen atom reduces two electrons from C(60). This result implies that the number of accepted electrons in C(60) can be varied by a suitable choice of the number of Ln atoms and O atoms.     

The system BaOGeO2 at high pressures and temperatures,with special reference to high-pressure transformations in BaGeO3, BaGe2O5, and Ba2Ge5O12

Phase relations in the system BaOGeO₂ were investigated in the pressure range 20–70 kbar in the temperature range 750–1200°C. Several new phases were identified in this system: an atmospheric phase of BaGe₂O₅ (monoclinic BaGe₂O₅ I), two high-pressure phases of BaGe₂O₅ (monoclinic BaGe₂O₅ II and tetragonal BaGe₂O₅ III), and a high-pressure phase of Ba₂Ge₅O₁₂. The phase boundary curve between BaGe₂O₅ II and BaGe₂O₅ III was preliminarily determined as P(kbar) = 7.7 + 0.047T (°C). The high-pressure phases of BaGeO₃, which were previously reported by Y. Shimizu, Y. Syono, and S. Akimoto (High Temp.-High Pressures2, 113 (1970)) in the pressure range 15–95 kbar, were interpreted to be not single-phase materials but complicated mixtures of more than two phases in the system BaOGeO₂. X-Ray powder diffraction data for the new compounds synthesized in this study are given.     

Effect of Coriolis force on counter-current chromatographic separation by centrifugal partition chromatography

The effect of Coriolis force on the counter-current chromatographic separation was studied using centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) with four different two-phase solvent systems including n-hexane-acetonitrile (ACN); tert-butyl methyl ether (MtBE)-aqueous 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) (1:1); MtBE-ACN-aqueous 0.1% TFA (2:2:3); and 12.5% (w/w) polyethylene glycol (PEG) 1000-12.5% (w/w) dibasic potassium phosphate. Each separation was performed by eluting either the upper phase in the ascending mode or the lower phase in the descending mode, each in clockwise (CW) and counterclockwise column rotation. Better partition efficiencies were attained by the CW rotation in both mobile phases in all the two-phase solvent systems examined. The mathematical analysis also revealed the Coriolis force works favorably under the CW column rotation for both mobile phases. The overall results demonstrated that the Coriolis force produces substantial effects on CPC separation in both organic-aqueous and aqueous-aqueous two-phase systems.     

Radical Copolymerization of Vinylidene Chloride with 3(2-Methyl)-6-methylpyridazinone in Several Solvents

The radical copolymerization of vinylidene chloride (Vc, M₁) with 3(2-methyl)-6-methylpyridazinone (I, M₂) was carried out in benzene, ethanol, phenol, and acetic acid at 60 and 80°C. The monomer reactivity ratios were found to vary with the reaction conditions. The linear correlationships were obtained by plotting the values of log r₁ against those of ^V C[dbnd]O and ^V C[dbnd]C of monomers determined in the solvents.     

Epoxidation of Allylic Alcohols with Hydrogen Peroxide Catalyzed by [PMO12O40]3-[C5H5N+(CH2)15CH3]3

Applicatims a Mo- and W-based heteropoly acids (HPA) as a catalyst in the oxidation of olefins have extensively been investigated¹. However, a patent work is only attempted concerning the evoxidatim of olefins with H₂0₂ by HPA²⁾ since the oxirane ring is cleaved because of a strong acidity of HPA itself. Herein, an effective epoxidatim of some allylic alcohols with H₂0₂ by a new Mo-species (MPCP), which was prepared from 12-molybdatophosphoric acid (H₃PMo₁₂0₄₀) and cetylpyridinium chloride (C₅H₅N (CH₂), ₁₅CH₃- C1^-) under two-phase conditions using chloroform as an organic solvent, is described.