Structural and functional stabilities of artificially designed DNA ultra-thin films grown by silica Assistance

We report the structural and functional stabilities of artificially synthesized DNA ultra-thin films. Fully covered DNA ultra-thin films on a silica substrate were fabricated by the silica-assisted growth method and those samples were then incubated in various chemicals and physical conditions. The DNA ultra-thin films showed high maintainability under those harsh conditions and these results would aid to facilitate the use of artificial DNA ultra-thin films in advanced research areas such as biophotonics and bioelectronics.     

One-pot synthesis of 1-substituted-5-alkylselanyl-1H-tetrazoles from isoselenocyanates: unexpected formation of N-alkyl-N-arylcyanamides and (Z)-Se-alkyl-N-cyano-N,N′-diarylisoselenoureas

1-Substituted-5-alkylsulfanyl-1H-tetrazoles are well known class of organic substances with various applications in medicinal chemistry or photographic industry. Their selenium analogues, 1-substituted-5-alkylselanyl-1H-tetrazoles are, however, much less explored because of the lack of suitable methods for their preparation. In this work we investigated the synthesis of 1-alkyl/aryl-5-alkylselanyl-1H-tetrazoles from synthetically available alkyl/arylisoselenocyanates. One-pot reactions of arylisoselenocyanates with sodium azide and alkylating agent led to the target 5-alkylselanyl-1-aryl-1H-tetrazoles but also to interesting side products, namely N-alkyl-N-arylcyanamides and (Z)-Se-alkyl-N-cyano-N,N′-diarylisoselenoureas. Nevertheless, when alkylisoselenocyanates were utilized as the substrates, the reactions led exclusively to the formation of 1-alkyl-5-alkylselanyl-1H-tetrazoles in good yields. This simple one-pot procedure brings new possibilities for the preparation of variously substituted selenium compounds. It also opens the way to further investigations of selenium isosteres of the widely utilized 5-thiotetrazole moiety in biomedical applications.     

Anti-Inflammatory Activity and Mechanism of Isookanin,Isolated by Bioassay-Guided Fractionation from Bidens pilosa L.

Bidens pilosa L. (Asteraceae) has been used historically in traditional Asian medicine and is known to have a variety of biological effects. However, the specific active compounds responsible for the individual pharmacological effects of Bidens pilosa L. (B. pilosa) extract have not yet been made clear. This study aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory phytochemicals obtained from B. pilosa. We isolated a flavonoids-type phytochemical, isookanin, from B. pilosa through bioassay-guided fractionation based on its capacity to inhibit inflammation. Some of isookanin’s biological properties have been reported; however, the anti-inflammatory mechanism of isookanin has not yet been studied. In the present study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory activities of isookanin using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. We have shown that isookanin reduces the production of proinflammatory mediators (nitric oxide, prostaglandin E₂) by inhibiting the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in LPS-stimulated macrophages. Isookanin also inhibited the expression of activator protein 1 (AP-1) and downregulated the LPS-induced phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and c-jun NH₂-terminal kinase (JNK) in the MAPK signaling pathway. Additionally, isookanin inhibited proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β)) in LPS-induced THP-1 cells. These results demonstrate that isookanin could be a potential therapeutic candidate for inflammatory disease.     

Air stability of PTCDI‐C13‐based n‐OFETs on polymer interfacial layers

This Letter reports the novel use of poly(9‐vinylcarbazole) (PVK) as a dielectric interfacial layer for n‐type organic field‐effect transistors (n‐OFETs). With PVK, both the air stability and electron mobility of N,N′‐ditridecylperylene‐3,4,9,10‐tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI‐C13)‐based OFETs were improved. Among the PVKs with different weight‐average molecular weight (M_w), PVK with high M_w showed good performance. The high glass transition temperature of PVK enabled thermal post annealing of the active layer, which resulted in a high electron mobility of 0.61 cm²/Vs. This mobility was maintained at 90% and 59% after 4 days and 105 days in air, respectively. The PVK interfacial layer reduced the trapped charges in the PTCDI‐C13‐based n‐OFET for air‐exposure and caused a decrease in the threshold voltage shift.

     

Simple expressions of the reflection and transmission coefficients of fundamental Lamb waves by a rectangular notch

The scattering of Lamb waves by a two-dimensional rectangular notch is investigated for rapid inspection of defects in a structure. To derive the reflection and transmission coefficients of the scattered waves in a simple way, the scattering caused by the notch is analyzed through the composition of individual scattering processes. Linear equations corresponding to the reflection and transmission coefficients are constructed along with scattering graphs. For an illustration of the efficacy of the presented method, the scattering of fundamental symmetric and anti-symmetric modes are inspected according to the depth and width of a notch in a plate. Validity of these expressions is demonstrated by the comparison of the theoretical analysis results with those from the finite element analysis.     

Osmium tetroxide-(QN)2PHAL in an ionic liquid: a highly efficient and recyclable catalyst system for asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins

In Os-catalysed asymmetric dihydroxylation using NMO as a co-oxidant, the combination of an ionic liquid and the new bis-cinchona alkaloid 2 generated in situ from (QN)2PHAL during reaction provided a simple and practical approach to the recycling of both catalytic components (osmium tetraoxide and chiral ligand).     

Acoustic diagnosis for porous medium with circular cylindrical pores

Acoustic transmission coefficient and phase velocity of a Lucite slab with circular cylindrical pores with a nonrigid pore frame were experimentally and theoretically investigated. For theoretical investigation a new phenomenological model, the modified Biot-Attenborough (MBA) model, was proposed. The MBA model takes into account both the first kind and the second kind of waves introduced by Biot. It also separately considers viscous and thermal effects with three new phenomenological parameters: boundary, phase velocity, and impedance parameters. The theoretical estimation with three phenomenological parameters shows reasonably good agreement with the experimental data. The physical characteristics of porous medium such as porosity and pore size can be inversely analyzed in terms of the acoustic data such as the transmission coefficient and phase velocity as the functions of porosity and frequency. This makes acoustic diagnosis possible for noninvasively investigating physical characteristics of porous media such as bones and ocean sediments.     

Magnetic response of microbially synthesized transition metal- and lanthanide-substituted nano-sized magnetites

The magnetic susceptibility (κ_RT) and saturation magnetization (M_S) of microbially synthesized magnetites were systematically examined. Transition metal (Cr, Mn, Co, Ni and Zn)- and lanthanide (Nd, Gd, Tb, Ho and Er)-substituted magnetites were microbially synthesized by the incubation of transition metal (TM)- and lanthanide (L)-mixed magnetite precursors with either thermophilic (TOR-39) or psychrotolerant (PV-4) metal-reducing bacteria (MRB). Zinc incorporated congruently into both the precursor and substituted magnetite, while Ni and Er predominantly did not. Microbially synthesized Mn- and Zn-substituted magnetites had higher κ_RT than pure biomagnetite depending on bacterial species and they exhibited a maximum κ_RT at 0.2 cationic mole fraction (CMF). Other TMs’ substitution linearly decreased the κ_RT with increasing substitution amount. Based on the M_S values of TM- and L-substituted magnetite at 0.1 and 0.02 CMF, respectively, Zn (90.7 emu/g for TOR-39 and 93.2 emu/g for PV-4)- and Mn (88.3 emu/g by PV-4)-substituted magnetite exhibited higher M_S than standard chemical magnetite (84.7 emu/g) or pure biomagnetite without metal substitution (76.6 emu/g for TOR-39 and 80.3 emu/g for PV-4). Lanthanides tended to decrease M_S, with Gd- and Ho-substituted magnetites having the highest magnetization. The higher magnetization of microbially synthesized TM-substituted magnetites by the psychrotroph, PV-4 may be explained by the magnetite formation taking place at low temperatures slowing mechanics, which may alter the magnetic properties compared to the thermophile, through suppression of the random distribution of substituted cations.