Measurement of circular dichroism spectra of liquid/liquid interface by centrifugal liquid membrane method.

The direct measurement of the circular dichroism (CD) spectra of liquid/liquid interface has been achieved for the first time by the centrifugal liquid membrane (CLM) method combined with a conventional CD spectropolarimetry. In the sample chamber of the CD spectropolarimeter, a cylindrical glass cell containing small amounts of organic and aqueous phases was rotated at ca. 7000 rpm to generate a two-phase liquid membrane with a high specific interfacial area. The CD spectra of the J-aggregate of protonated 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin formed at the toluene/sulfuric acid interface in the rotating cell have been measured. The results demonstrated the novelty and advantages of this method.     

A precision measurement of the hyperfine structure of87Sr+

The ground state hyperfine splitting of⁸⁷Sr⁺ was measured with a precision of 1×10^–8. The experiments were performed with an RF ion trap connected to an ISOL (isotope separator on-line), where all the possible transitions between Zeeman sublevels were observed by a laser-microwave double resonance method. The magnetic dipole hyperfine constant was determined to beA=–1 000 473.673 (11) kHz.     

Schottky metal library for ZNO-based UV photodiode fabricated by the combinatorial ion beam-assisted deposition

A binary alloy Schottky barrier diode on zinc oxide (ZnO) was developed using the combinatorial ion beam-assisted deposition system. The compositional fraction of the binary alloy was continuously varied using the composition-spread technique, to control the Schottky barrier height. After metal deposition, patterned Schottky diodes were fabricated on a ZnO single-crystal substrate. Pt-Ru alloy was selected from the work function viewpoint. Our experiments showed that the compositional fraction of the Schottky binary alloys changed continuously as designed and the Schottky barrier heights measured by current-voltage (I-V) measurements increased with increasing Pt content. Maximum barrier height difference for ZnO was 137 meV. Using ion beam deposition in parallel with the combinatorial system showed that the Schottky barrier heights for ZnO can be controlled by binary metal alloying.     

Calorimetric studies of glycolysis of E. coli under nongrowing condition

Initial reactions of the metabolic processes in bacterial cells have been investigated by measuring heat generation of $\text{E. coli}$ under nongrowing conditions with a titrimetric calorimeter. Three exothermic reactions with different rates of heat generation have been observed calorimetrically under aerobic condition when glucose solution was added to the cell suspension of nongrowing medium. It was estimated that the first exothermic peak obtained after adding glucose was due to uptaking of substrate molecules and following two peaks reflected to the reaction of phosphofructokinase and that of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase respectively. To clarify the process of glycolysis, measurements of heat evolution due to metabolisms of various sugars except glucose have also examined and compared with that of glucose.     

Rapid ruthenium-catalyzed synthesis of pyranopyrandiones by reconstructive carbonylation of cyclopropenones involving C[bond]C bond cleavage

Pyranopyrandiones were prepared by a novel ruthenium-catalyzed carbonylative dimerization of cyclopropenones via C-C bond cleavage. For example, treatment of dipropylcyclopropenone with a catalytic amount of Ru3(CO)12 and NEt3 in THF under 15 atm of carbon monoxide at 140 degrees C for 20 h gave a novel functional monomer, 3,4,7,8-tetrapropylpyrano[6,5-e]pyran-2,6-dione, in an isolated yield of 81%. Unsymmetrically substituted pyranopyrandiones were also obtained by ruthenium-catalyzed carbonylative coupling of cyclopropenones with alkynes under similar reaction conditions.     

Measurement of low concentrations of hydrogen in small samples by intermediate neutron moderation

An improved method based on the moderation of intermediate neutrons for the measurement of hydrogen in small samples is described. With the aid of boron and cadmium filters, a space shielded from slow neutrons is set up close to an isotopic neutron source shrouded by water moderator. A BF₃ proportional counter enclosed with a sample cell is placed in this space. The neutron count rate of the counter increases when a hydrogen-containing material is introduced into the cell, due to the moderation of intermediate neutrons passing through the filters. With a 1.3 μg²⁵²Cf neutron source, the lower limit of hydrogen detection for 200 ml samples in 10 min count time is 0.01 wt.%. This method is suitable for measuring the H₂O content of heavy water.