Comparison between Abel test stability and thermal decomposition behavior of nitrocellulose

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Nitrocellulose (NC) is prone to spontaneous decomposition with exothermic heat release and thus is generally evaluated for stability during the storage...     

Oxygen isotope effect of superconducting (Nd1−xCex)2CuO4−δ system

The effect of oxygen isotope substitution on the transition temperature T_c of a superconducting (Nd_1−xCe_x)₂CuO_4−δ system was studied, where the special synthetic method was taken to minimize ambiguous factors on the oxygen concentration and to guarantee the complete substitution of ¹⁶O by ¹⁸O. The isotope exponent in the relationship of T_c∝1/M was estimated to be less than 0.15 by magnetic susceptibility measurements.     

Application of Automatic Chromatic Dispersion Compensation for Realization of All-Optical Network

We have studied the algorithm for the automatic chromatic dispersion compensation using bit error rate (BER) and Q-factor optimization for realization of dynamically reconfigurable all-optical network. We have made sure good performance using the compensation system by laboratory experiments.     

Metal components analysis of metallothionein-III in the brain sections of metallothionein-I and metallothionein-II null mice exposed to mercury vapor with HPLC/ICP-MS

Mercury vapor is effectively absorbed via inhalation and easily passes through the blood–brain barrier; therefore, mercury poisoning with primarily central nervous system symptoms occurs. Metallothionein (MT) is a cysteine-rich metal-binding protein and plays a protective role in heavy-metal poisoning and it is associated with the metabolism of trace elements. Two MT isoforms, MT-I and MT-II, are expressed coordinately in all mammalian tissues, whereas MT-III is a brain-specific member of the MT family. MT-III binds zinc and copper physiologically and is seemed to have important neurophysiological and neuromodulatory functions. The MT functions and metal components of MTs in the brain after mercury vapor exposure are of much interest; however, until now they have not been fully examined. In this study, the influences of the lack of MT-I and MT-II on mercury accumulation in the brain and the changes of zinc and copper concentrations and metal components of MTs were examined after mercury vapor exposure by using MT-I, II null mice and 129/Sv (wild-type) mice as experimental animals. MT-I, II null mice and wild-type mice were exposed to mercury vapor or an air stream for 2 h and were killed 24 h later. The brain was dissected into the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum, and the hippocampus. The concentrations of mercury in each brain section were determined by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. The concentrations of mercury, copper, and zinc in each brain section were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The mercury accumulated in brains after mercury vapor exposure for MT-I, II null mice and wild-type mice. The mercury levels of MT-I, II null mice in each brain section were significantly higher than those of wild-type mice after mercury vapor exposure. A significant change of zinc concentrations with the following mercury vapor exposure for MT-I, II null mice was observed only in the cerebellum analyzed by two-way analysis of variance. As for zinc, the copper concentrations only changed significantly in the cerebellum. Metal components of metal-binding proteins of soluble fractions in the brain sections were analyzed by size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) connected with ICP-MS. From the results of HPLC/ICP-MS analyses, it was concluded that the mercury components of MT-III and high molecular weight metal-binding proteins in the cerebellum of MT-I, II null mice were much higher than those of wild-type mice. It was suggested that MT-III is associated with the storage of mercury in conditions lacking MT-I, and MT-II. It was also suggested that the physiological role of MT-III and some kind of high molecular weight proteins might be impaired by exposure to mercury vapor and lack of MT-I and MT-II.     

De novo designed contrasteric Diels-Alder reactions of 5-(2-oxazolynyl)-1,2,3,4,5-pentamethylcyclopentadiene

5-(2-Oxazolynyl)cyclopentadiene was designed on the basis of the orbital mixing rule to react with dienophiles with highly contrasteric manner in Diels-Alder reactions. The design was validated by the synthesis and reactions of the corresponding pentamethyl derivative, 5-(2-oxazolynyl)-1,2,3,4,5-pentamethylcyclopentadiene, to afford the products with the ratios of syn/anti=89-93/11-7.     

Mechanism of the CO oxidation reaction on O-precovered Pt(111) surfaces studied with near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy

The mechanism of CO oxidation reaction on oxygen-precovered Pt(111) surfaces has been studied by using time-resolved near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. The whole reaction process is composed of two distinct paths: (1) a reaction of isolated oxygen atoms with adsorbed CO, and (2) a reaction of island-periphery oxygen atoms after the CO saturation. CO coadsorption plays a role to induce the dynamic change in spatial distribution of O atoms, which switches over the two reaction paths. These mechanisms were confirmed by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The effect of coadsorbed water in the reaction mechanism was also examined.     

Efficiency of radiation-induced main-chain scission of poly (methyl methacrylate) depends on the irradiation temperature because of coexisting monomer

Effect of irradiation temperature on the main-chain scission of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) caused by γ-irradiation was studied by means of gel permeation chromatography and ESR spectroscopy. Although no temperature dependency was observed on the scission efficiency for purified PMMA, the efficiency for crude or monomer-doped purified PMMA was decreased by decreasing the temperature below ca. 200 K. Above 200 K the efficiency was constant and did not depend on the purity of PMMA. ESR study of the irradiated PMMA revealed that the suppression of the scission below 200 K is induced by the addition of methyl methacrylate monomer to primary radical species, which otherwise cause the main-chain scission by warming the polymer above 200 K. The primary radical generated above 200 K immediately converts to the scission-type ? CH₂ ? ?(CH₃) COOCH₃ radical through the β-scission of the polymer main chain, so that the efficiency of the scission does not depend on both the impurity and the irradiation temperature. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.