Perception of musical and lexical tones by Taiwanese-speaking musicians

This study explored the relationship between music and speech by examining absolute pitch and lexical tone perception. Taiwanese-speaking musicians were asked to identify musical tones without a reference pitch and multispeaker Taiwanese level tones without acoustic cues typically present for speaker normalization. The results showed that a high percentage of the participants (65% with an exact match required and 81% with one-semitone errors allowed) possessed absolute pitch, as measured by the musical tone identification task. A negative correlation was found between occurrence of absolute pitch and age of onset of musical training, suggesting that the acquisition of absolute pitch resembles the acquisition of speech. The participants were able to identify multispeaker Taiwanese level tones with above-chance accuracy, even though the acoustic cues typically present for speaker normalization were not available in the stimuli. No correlations were found between the performance in musical tone identification and the performance in Taiwanese tone identification. Potential reasons for the lack of association between the two tasks are discussed.     

Novel [6 + 2] cycloaddition of fulvenes with alkenes: a facile synthesis of the anislactone and hirsutane framework

[reaction: see text] In contrast to the Diels-Alder reaction of fulvenes and various alkenes, 6-aminofulvenes react with maleic anhydride (or maleimide) to give [6 + 2] cycloaddition adducts, constituting an efficient and novel route to pentaleno[1,2-c]furan, pentaleno[1,2-c]pyrrole, and cyclopenta[a]pentalene skeleton.     

Bioactive Components from the Mycelium of Antrodia Salmonea

Three new compounds, 2,4‐dimethoxy‐6‐methylbenzene‐1,3‐diol ( 1 ), salmoquinone ( 2 ), and 3‐(4‐hydroxyphenyl)‐4‐isobutyl‐1H‐pyrrole‐2,5‐dione ( 3 ), together with six known compounds, 2‐methoxy‐6‐methyl‐p‐benzoquinone ( 4 ), 2,3‐dimethoxy‐5‐methyl‐p‐benzoquinone ( 5 ), 2‐hydroxy‐5‐methoxy‐3‐methyl‐p‐benzoquinone ( 6 ), eburcoic acid ( 7 ), fomefficinic acid C ( 8 ), and a pyrroledione ( 9 ), were isolated from the mycelium of Antrodia salmonea. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectrometric analyses including IR, NMR, and MS. Among these compounds, 4 and 5 exhibited cytotoxicity against KB, HepG2, and H2058 cell lines.     

One‐pot synthesis of linear and branched poly(amide aspartimide)s with good solubility in organic solvents

Linear and branched poly(amide aspartimide)s were prepared through the reaction of 4,4′‐diaminodiphenylmethane with 4‐maleimidobenzoic acid and 5‐maleimidoisophthalic acid, respectively. The synthesis was performed through a one‐pot operation by means of the Michael addition reaction between amine and maleimide groups and the dehydration condensation reaction between amine and carboxylic acid groups. The obtained polymers exhibited fairly good solubility in aprotic polar solvents at room temperature and in pyridine, tetrahydrofuran, acetone, and chloroform upon heating. High glass‐transition temperatures (≥225 °C) and thermal stability above 360 °C were found for the polymers. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 1923–1929, 2005     

Aggregation Influence of Polyethyleneglycol Organic Solvents with Ionic Liquids BMIBF4 and BMIPF6

Polyethyleneglycol (PEG, M_w = 200, 300, 400) and polyethyleneimine (PEI, M_w = 423) are used to investigate the ion‐ion interactions in liquids and physicochemical properties after the addition of PEG (or PEI) to ionic liquids 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazole tetrafluoroborate (BMIBF₄) or 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMIPF₆). Nuclear magnetic resonance is used to investigate the effects of solvent content (x = 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5) and temperature (303–338 K) on the diffusion coefficient, chemical shift, and two dimensional NOESY, HOESY spectra. HOESY spectra show that a hydrogen bond forms between the alkyl hydrogen of PEG and the ¹⁹F atom of BF₄⁻ and PF₆⁻. After the addition of PEG to BMIBF₄ (or BMIPF₆), the aggregation is the dominant effect for the diffusion coefficient result. When the molecular weight and the concentration of PEG increase, the effect of coving generates larger clusters involving PEG, BMI⁺ and its counter anion. The BF₄⁻ group of the BMIBF₄/PEG system is smaller than PF₆⁻, it's easier to generate clusters in the BMIBF₄/PEG system than it is in the BMIPF₆/PEG system.     

Preparation and characterization of hyperbranched polyaspartimides from bismaleimides and triamines

Hyperbranched polyaspartimides were successfully prepared from bismaleimides (A₂) and triamines (B₃) through the Michael addition reaction. Two bismaleimides of 4,4′‐bismaleimidodiphenylmethane (BMDM) and bis(3‐ethyl‐5‐methyl‐4‐ maleimidophenyl)methane (BEMM) and two triamines of tris(3‐aminophenyl)phosphine oxide (TAPPO) and tris(4‐aminophenyl)amine (TAPA) were employed in the preparation of these hyperbranched polyaspartimides. The chemical structures of the polymers were characterized with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), ¹H and ³¹P NMR, and elemental analysis. Degrees of branching ranging from 0.51 to 0.69 were found with the polyaspartimides, ensuring their hyperbranched structure. The polymers also showed good solubility in common solvents, high glass‐transition temperatures of 256 °C, and excellent thermal stability above 370 °C. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 5921–5928, 2004     

Unprecedented microwave effects on the cycloaddition of fulvenes. A new approach to the construction of polycyclic ring systems

[reaction: see text] Novel cycloaddition reactions between fulvenes and various alkenes and alkynes are promoted by the use of microwave irradiation. These processes result in the formation of intriguing polycyclic ring systems such as those found in isobarbatene, alcyopterosin, and enokipodin A. Importantly, these reactions do not occur under conventional thermolytic conditions.