Hydrophobic Monomers Recognize Microenvironments in Hydrogel Microspheres during Free-Radical-Seeded Emulsion Polymerization

The three-dimensional structure of nanocomposite microgels was precisely determined by cryo-electron micrography. Several nanocomposite microgels that differ with respect to their nanocomposite structure, which were obtained from seeded emulsion polymerization in the presence of microgels, were used as model nanocomposite materials for cryo-electron micrography. The obtained three-dimensional segmentation images of these nanocomposite microgels provide important insights into the interactions between the hydrophobic monomers and the microgels, that is, hydrophobic styrene monomers recognize molecular-scale differences in polarity within the microgels during the emulsion polymerization. This result led to the formation of unprecedented multi-layered nanocomposite microgels, which promise substantial potential in colloidal applications.     

Improvement in flow-sheet of extraction chromatography for trivalent minor actinides recovery

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Extraction chromatography flow-sheet employing octyl(phenyl)-N,N-diisobutylcarbonoylmethylphosphine oxide and bis(2-ethylhexyl) hydrogen phosphate...     

Intramolecular photocycloaddition of β-stilbazoles tethered by silyl chains

Intramolecular (2+2) photocycloaddition of β-stilbazoles tethered by silyl chains took place with high efficiency. Complexation with dicarboxylic acid or catechol further enhanced both the efficiency and stereoselectivity.     

Intended Treatments of Arithmetic Average in U.S. and Asian School Mathematics Textbooks

This study examined how selected U.S. and Asian mathematics curricula are designed to facilitate students' understanding of the arithmetic average. There is a consistency regarding the learning goals among these curriculum series, but the focuses are different between the Asian series and the U.S. reform series. The Asian series and the U.S. commercial series focus the arithmetic average more on conceptual and procedural understanding of the concept as a computational algorithm than on understanding the concept as a representative of a data set; however, the two U.S. reform series focus the concept more on the latter. Because of the different focuses, the Asian and the U.S. curriculum series treat the concept differently. In the Asian series, the concept is first introduced in the context of “equal‐sharing” or “per‐unit‐quantity,” and the averaging formula is formally introduced at a very early stage. In the U.S. reform series, the concept is discussed as a measure of central tendency, and after students have some intuitive ideas of the statistical aspect of the concept, the averaging algorithm is briefly introduced.     

When does the subadditivity theorem for multiplier ideals hold?

Demailly, Ein and Lazarsfeld proved the subadditivity theorem for multiplier ideals on nonsingular varieties, which states the multiplier ideal of the product of ideals is contained in the product of the individual multiplier ideals. We prove that, in the two-dimensional case, the subadditivity theorem holds on log terminal singularities. However, in the higher dimensional case, we have several counterexamples. We consider the subadditivity theorem for monomial ideals on toric rings and construct a counterexample on a three-dimensional toric ring.

     

Ion-transfer voltammetry at a polarized room-temperature molten salt/water interface.

Tetraoctylammonium cation forms a room-temperature molten salt (RTMS) with 2,4,6-trinitrophenolate anion. The RTMS is immiscible with water (W) and forms a stable RTMS/W interface. It has been shown that the RTMS/W interface can be electrochemically polarized. A well-defined voltammetric wave due to the transfer of thiocyanate ion across the RTMS/W interface was observed within the potential window. This is the first example of a polarized RTMS/W interface.     

Analysis method of the angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibitory activity based on micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

A micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method was developed for estimating the angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity by separating the hippuric acid liberated in the ACE reaction mixture in the presence of an inhibitor, captopril. The hippuric acid was successfully separated and detected by MEKC with a 25 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate solution in a 25 mM phosphate-50 mM borate buffer at pH 7.0; the total analysis took about 5 min. A good linear relationship was observed between the inhibitor and the peak area of hippuric acid release. No significant difference in the ACE inhibitory activity (IC50) of captopril (an antihypertensive medicine) or autolyzed-mushrooms (functional foods) was observed between the conventional method and the MEKC method. The MEKC method was found to be a useful technique for a rapid assay of the ACE inhibitory activity.     

Effect of core-shell micelle formation on the redox properties of phenothiazine-labeled poly(ethyl glycidy ether)-block-poly(ethylene oxide)

Redox properties of phenothiazine-labeled poly(ethyl glycidy ether)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PT-EGE_n-b-EO_m) are reversibly changed by core-shell micelle formation. In the temperature range higher than the critical micellization temperature (cmt), the anodic potential of PT group positively shifts and concomitantly its anodic current decrease, or levels off compared to those of the reference polymer PT-EO_m without the thermo-responsive EGE_n segment. The former alteration is caused by incorporation of hydrophobic PT groups into a core of the micelle and the latter by the decrease in the diffusion coefficient of PT groups due to formation of the core-shell micelles. The cmt value and the temperature-dependent alteration in the redox properties strongly depend on the polymer structure, especially the length of thermo-responsive EGE_n segment. The electrochemically determined hydrodynamic radii of the polymer aggregates seem to be overestimated, compared to the values reported for the aggregates of other thermo-responsive polymers with similar molecular weights, implying the presence of electrochemically inactive PT groups in the copolymers having longer thermo-responsive segments.     

Rapid and sensitive determination of the conversion of UV-cured acrylic ester resins by pyrolysis-gas chromatography in the presence of an organic alkali.

The double-bond conversion of UV-cured resins prepared from pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA) was determined by pyrolysis-gas chromatography in the presence of an organic alkali, tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). The pyrogram of the uncured prepolymer compound, consisting of PETA and a photoinitiator, 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone, contained specific products reflecting the original acrylate structure, such as methyl acrylate (MA) and methyl ethers of pentaerithritol. Meanwhile, in pyrograms of the UV-cured PETA, the yields of MA considerably decreased. The double-bond conversions of the cured resins, irradiated with various UV dosages, were calculated based on the relative yields of MA among specific products in the pyrograms. The conversions determined by this approach were analyzed by comparing them with those estimated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy.