On Potentially Abelian Geometric Representations

The finiteness is proved of the set of isomorphism classes of potentially abelian geometric Galois representations with a given set of data. This is a special case of the finiteness conjecture of Fontaine and Mazur.     

Asymmetric reduction of 2-substituted 2-butenolides with reductase from Marchantia polymorpha

A p68 reductase participating in the asymmetric reduction of the C–C double bond of 2-substituted 2-butenolides was isolated from Marchantia polymorpha. The enzyme reduced 2-substituted 2-butenolides to give (R)-butanolides, and the reduction of citraconic anhydride afforded (R)-methylsuccinic anhydride.     

Achievement of laser fusion of biological cells using UV pulsed dye laser beams

This paper reports a successful achievement of laser-induced biological cell fusion using an excimer laser excited dye laser. To our knowledge, we examined for the first time the dependence of fusion rate on laser pulse energy, number of laser pulses, and laser wavelength. Maximum fusion rate of approximately 50% was obtained by this laser fusion technology.     

Micro-phase sorbent extraction for trace analysis via in situ sorbent formation: application to the spectrophotometric determination of nitrite in environmental waters.

A micro-phase sorbent in situ formation from an aqueous solution was proposed for the sensitive spectrophotometric determination of nitrite in environmental waters. Nitrite in a 10 mL sample solution was converted into a cationic azo dye by the reaction with 4-trifluoromethylanilinium ion and N-1-naphthylethylenediammonium ion in an acidic medium. Addition of dodecylbenzenesulfonate ion caused the formation of a suspension of ion associate in the solution. Centrifugation of the solution led to the isolation of a liquid organic phase that extracted the azo dye at the bottom of the centrifuge tube. The volume of the new phase was ca. 5 microL. After the aqueous phase was discarded, the organic phase was dissolved with 1 mL of 2-methoxyethanol to measure the absorbance. Nitrogen as NO2- at concentrations from 1.5 to 30 microg L(-1) was determined with sufficient precision. When 0.2 mL of 2-methoxyethanol was applied to dissolve the organic phase, 0.3-4.8 microg NO2--N L(-1) was determined. The recovery tests for nitrite added to some river water and seawater were satisfactory. This method is very simple and rapid. It takes only 30 min from the dye formation to the measurement of the absorbance.     

Synthesis and characterization of norbornene–ethylene–styrene terpolymers with a substituted ansa‐fluorenylamidodimethyltitanium‐based catalyst

This article reports a synthetic method for a norbornene–ethylene–styrene (N‐E‐S) terpolymer, which has not been well investigated so far, via incorporation of styrene (S) into vinyl‐type norbornene–ethylene (N‐E) copolymers catalyzed by a substituted ansa‐fluorenylamidodimethyltitanium [Me₂Si(3,6‐tBu₂Flu)(tBuN)]TiMe₂ catalyst ( I ) activated with a [Ph₃C][B(C₆F₅)₄]/Al(iBu)₃ cocatalyst at room temperature in toluene. The resulting terpolymerization product contained the targeted N‐E‐S terpolymer and the contaminated homopolymers, which were then able to be completely removed by solvent fractionation techniques. While homopolystyrene was easily extracted by fractionation with methylethylketone as a soluble part, homopolyethylene and a trace amount of homopolynorbornene could be perfectly separated by fractionation with chloroform as insoluble parts. The detail characterizations of a chloroform‐soluble polymer with gel permeation chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and differential scanning calorimetry analyses proved that it contained a true N‐E‐S terpolymer with long N‐E sequences incorporated with isolated or short styrene sequences. The homogeneity of the morphology together with a single glass transition temperature that proportionally decreased with the increase of the styrene contents indicated that the N‐E‐S terpolymer obtained in this work is a random polymer with an amorphous structure. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 2765–2773, 2007     

DNA cleavage induced by thermal electron transfer from a dimeric NADH analogue to acridinium ions in the presence of oxygen

Acridinium ions, which can intercalate to DNA, act as thermal DNA cleavers in the presence of a dimeric NADH analogue and O2 in an aqueous solution via thermal electron transfer from a dimeric NADH analogue to acridinium ions, followed by the electron-transfer reduction of O2 to O2*- by the resulting NAD radicals.     

Lewis acid promoted reactions of γ,γ-dialkoxyallylic zirconium species with various carbonyl compounds

The reactions of γ,γ-dialkoxyallylic zirconium species with carbonyl compounds in the presence of Lewis acid are reported. The reactivity of γ,γ-dialkoxyallylic zirconium species and reaction pathway were strongly dependent on the structure and electrostatic nature of the carbonyl compounds.     

Action of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C from Bacillus thuringiensis is significantly influenced by coexisting lipids in substrate-detergent micelles.

The effects of phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), sphingomyelin (SM), and cholesterol on the activity of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) from Bacillus thuringiensis were studied in detail in phosphatidylinositol (PI)/detergent mixed micelles. By addition of PC, the enzymatic hydrolysis of PI was significantly stimulated in PI/Triton X-100 as well as PI/sodium deoxycholate (SDC) mixed micelles. SM stimulated enzyme activity toward PI/Triton X-100 micelles at a lower molar ratio of SM to PI, but was rather inhibitory at a ratio higher than 2.0. The enzyme activity became significantly lower with an increase of PE or cholesterol in PI/Triton X-100 micelles. Actually, both PE and cholesterol were intensively inhibitory when added at a higher molar ratio to PI in Triton X-100-containing micelles. In the system of PI/SDC mixed micelles, not only PC but also SM, PE and cholesterol enhanced the enzymatic hydrolysis of PI. The difference between PI/Triton X-100 and PI/SDC micelles regarding the effects of these lipids on PI-PLC action, must be dependent on the physical state of micelles formed by these detergents and lipids.