The fluorescence properties and photoisomerization behavior of 1-(9-anthryl)-2-(2-quinolinyl)ethene (2-AQE) have been investigated in various solvents. Instead of phenyl ring in 1-(9-anthryl)-2-phenylethene, the intro-duction of quinoline ring reduces not only the fluorescence yield but also the photoisomerization yield, due to competition of efficient radiationless deactivation and an increase in the torsional barrier for twisting in the singlet manifold. The S1 decay parameters were found to be solvent-dependent due to the charge-transfer character of lowest S1 state. Polar solvents reduce the activation barrier to twisting, thus slight enhancing the isomerization of t-2-AQE in the singlet manifold. As solvent polarity is increased, Φf of c-2-AQE is greatly reduced, but Φc →ｔ is practically independent of solvent polarity. Dual fluorescence in t-2-AQE was observed and two fluorescing species could be assigned t-2-AQE and c-2-AQE, where the ratio between two species was dependent on the solvent polarity. Interestingly, in the concentration above 1×10 -4 M, the shapes of the fluorescence excitation spectra of t- and c-2-AQE are significantly altered without spectral changes of their fluorescence and absorption, probably due to the formation of excimer.

Metallocenes, whether using a cocatalyst or not, act as catalysts in ethylene polymerization. The positive charge on the transition metal of a metallocene might have an important role in polymerization as an active site in our model approach. Using semiempirical calculations in the absence of cocatalyst, we show one of the possibilities that the positive charge on a metallocene might be more easily transferred through the Cp ring of a ligand to the ethylene than to transfer directly from the transition metal to the ethylene. In these calculations, the charge on titanium in an eight C2H4 system is transferred and a polymer chain is produced. This reaction takes place only when ethylenes are arranged in a particular direction with respect to the ring, but does not take place for ethylenes near Ti or Cl atoms. The same mechanism is shown for a metallocene ligand which is sterically hindered or where the Cp ring is replaced by fluorenyl. These results suggest an entirely new polymerization mechanism in the absence of a cocatalyst in which the Cp ring is the active site.

An inexpensive ultrasonic nebulizer (USN) was developed utilizing a home humidifier. The ultrasonic transducer was taken from a commercial USN and the power supply was from a humidifier. Sample was continuously fed into the nebulizer and the detection limit was improved 3-20 times over a pneumatic nebulizer. Undesirably, noise in signal was also increased several times. 0.5 ppm of Mn was used as an internal reference and the "long-term" drift could be successfully corrected. Since the noise contained high and low frequency components, both could be effectively removed only by the real-time correction method such as the Myer-Tracy method, where the reference line was simultaneously monitored with the analytical lines. The performance of USN was tested with NIST SRMs and showed good agreement with the certified values.

The low-lying electronic states of diazirine and 3,3'-dimethyldiazirine have been studied by high level ab initio quantum chemical methods. The equilibrium geometries of the ground state and the first excited singlet and triplet states have been optimized using the Hartree-Fock (HF) and complete active space SCF (CASSCF) methods, as well as using the Møller-Plesset second order perturbation (MP2) theory and the single configuration interaction (CIS) theory. It was found that the first excited singlet state is of 1 B1 symmetry resulting from the n- π* transition, while the first excited triplet state is of 3 B2 symmetry resulting from the π- π* transition. The harmonic vibrational frequencies have been calculated at the optimized geometry of each electronic state, and the scaled frequencies have been compared with the experimental frequencies available. The adiabatic and vertical transition energies from the ground electronic state to the low-lying electronic states have been estimated by means of multireference methods based on the CASSCF wavefunctions, i.e., the multiconfigurational quasidegenerate second order perturbation (MCQDPT2) theory and the CASSCF second-order configuration interaction (CASSCF-SOCI) theory. The vertical transition energies have also been calculated by the CIS method for comparison. The computed transition energies, particularly by MCQDPT2, agree well with the experimental observations, and the electronic structures of the molecules have been discussed, particularly in light of the controversy over the existence of the so-called second electronic state.

We show that Shaw's optimized nonlocal model potential (OMP) in combination with the perturbative hyper-netted-chain equation for pair correlation functions can be successfully applied to predict pair structures of compressed and expanded liquid rubidium. For compressed rubidium, it is possible to apply the OMP to a state for which the model radius is even close to the Wigner-Seitz radius. In addition, our results are parallel to those from Chihara and Kahl's quantal hypernetted-chain equation in that it supports the uniform compression model up to 6.1 GPa. Calculation also shows that the pair structure is relatively insensitive to the choice of the exchange-correlation function for the electron liquid. Discussions are also given for compressed and expanded cesium.

Novel platinum(IV) complexes with asymmetric chiral diamine ligands cis,cis,trans-A2PtCl2(X)2 (X = OH, OCOCH3, OCOC2H5, A2 =NH2CH(CH3)CH2NH(c-C6H11)(apcha), NH2CH(CH3)CH2NH(c-C5H9)(apcpa)) have been prepared. One of the platinum(IV) complexes, (apcpa)PtCl2(OCOC2H5)2(6), was subjected to X-ray crystallographic analysis. The crystal structure of (apcpa)PtCl2(OCOC2H5)2 (monoclinic, P21 (No. 4), a = 9.1391(1), b = 22.2517(1), c = 10.0687(1)Å, β= 109.105(1)。 , V = 1934.80(3)Å3 , Z = 4, R1 = 0.0532) exhibits that the platinum atom achieves a typical octahedral arrangement with two nitrogen atoms in cis positions and two carboxylato group in trans positions. The spectroscopic data disclose that these platinum(IV) complexes are stable and their molecular structures are retained in aqueous solution. The title complexes are highly cytotoxic in vitro but do not exhibit oral anticancer activity in vivo.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) was used to demonstrate cross-linking of peptides induced by transglutaminase. The presence of ε-( Υ-glutamyl)lysine isopeptide cross-link in the acid hydrolysate of the cross-linking reaction mixture was also demonstrated by MALDI-TOF-MS without prior separation. MALDI-TOF-MS quickly provided peptide mass maps after pronase digestion of the cross-linked peptide adduct, which enabled us to monitor the hydrolytic sequence. Pronase appears to preferentially hydrolyze peptide bonds distant from the cross-link before hydrolyzing peptide bonds around the cross-link. The results suggest that pronase digestion followed by MALDI-TOF-MS could be used for determination of amino acid sequence around a modification site.

Conducting poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDT) films with metalloporphyrins incorporated as the counter ions were prepared by electropolymerization of the monomer in the presence of metal-tetra(sulfonatophenyl) porphyrin anions. Cathodic reduction of oxygen on the resulting conducting polymer films was studied. The overpotential for O2 reduction on electrodes with cobalt-porphyrin complex was significantly smaller in acidic solutions than on gold. In basic solutions, the overpotential at low current densities was close to those on platinum and gold. Polymer electrode with Co-complex yielded higher limiting currents than with Fe-complex, although the Co-complex polymer electrode was a poorer electrocatalyst for O2 reduction in the activation range of potential than the Fe counterpart. From the rotating ring-disk electrode experiments, oxygen reduction was shown to proceed through either a 4-electron pathway or a 2-electron pathway. In contrast to the polypyr-role-based electrodes, the PEDT-based metalloporphyrin electrodes were stable with wider potential windows, including the oxygen reduction potential. Their electrocatalytic properties were maintained at temperatures up to 80℃ in KOH solutions.

Two chiral stationary phases (CSPs) derived from two diastereomers consisting of (R)- or(S)-α-naphthylethylamine and (S)-naproxen were found to show different chromatographic behaviors in resolving N-(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl)-α-arylalkylamines and N-(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl)-α- or β-amino amides and esters. From the different chromatographic resolution behaviors on the two CSPs, the chiral recognition is proposed to be controlled mainly by the (R)- or (S)-α-naphthylethylamine part of the CSP. In contrast, the (S)-naproxen part of the two CSPs is proposed to exert some subordinate effects on the chiral recognition.

Lewis bases were employed to control the stoichiometry of ferrite film prepared by light enhanced plating (LEP) technique. When 2,2'-bipyridyl was used as a Lewis base, conversion electron Mosbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) and x-ray powder diffraction (XRD) experiments showed that the main component of the ferrite films was metal-deficient magnetite (Fe3(1-δ)O4). Nonstoichiometry and roughness of LEP films were increased by the addition of 2,2'-bipyridyl. Using ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) as a Lewis base, produced film that was a mixture of magnetite and Υ-FeO(OH). No low temperature transition (Verwey transition) of magnetite was detected in resistivity and ac-susceptibility measurements for the LEP films. Surface morphology of the LEP films was observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The size of dominant particles was about 0.2 μm.

Leucine zipper dynamically tunes the degree of bifurcation of the DNA binding segments in the basic region of the Fos-Jun bZIP complex. Molecular dynamics simulation indicated that site-specific mutagenesis of conserved leucine residues inside the leucine zipper domain caused the change of dynamic behavior of the basic region, and efficient DNA binding occurs only within a certain range of distance between the two DNA binding segments in the basic region. Distribution of α-helices in the hinge region is also suggested to influence the bifurcation of the DNA binding segments.

Interdiffusion between two partially miscible polymers of similar chemical structures with different molecular weights is characterized theoretically by using the reptation model for the interdiffusion. This model provides more reliable results than the early Rouse model for same molecular weights, compared with the experiments. Furthermore, by introducing the molecular weight ratio R into the reptation model, we can see the dynamic effect of molecular weight on the diffusion behaviors of the asymmetric system. Near the critical point the diffusion behaviors of asymmetric binary polymer mixtures are well characterized by the interfacial width W(t), the mass transport M(t) for the different values of the Flory Χ parameter and different molecular weight ratios ofpolymers of the diffusion couple. These two quantities and composition profiles by this model give betteragreement with experiments.

The curing characteristics of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) with diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM) as a curing agent were studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), rheometrics mechanical spectrometry (RMS), and dielectric analysis (DEA). The isothermal curing kinetics measured by DSC were well represented with the generalized auto-catalytic reaction model. With the temperature sweep, the inverse relationship between complex viscosity measured by RMS and ionic conductivity obtained from DEA was established indicating that the mobility of free ions represented by the ionic conductivity in DEA measurement and the chain segment motion as revealed by the complex viscosity measured from RMS are equivalent. From isothermal curing measurements at several different temperatures, the ionic conductivity contribution was shown to be dominant in the dielectric loss factor at the early stage of cure. The contribution of the dipole relaxation in dielectric loss factor became larger as the curing further proceeded. The critical degrees of cure, at which the dipolar contribution in the dielectric loss factor starts to appear, increases as isothermal curing temperature is increased. The dielectric relaxation time at the same degree of cure was shorter for a sample cured at higher curing temperature.

The function of 5S rRNA, a constituent of a large subunit of ribosome, is not clearly known yet. To identify RNA motifs interacting with 5S rRNA, and thereby to get an insight into the function of 5S rRNA in the ribosome, a SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment) experiment was performed. RNA molecules binding to Escherichia coli 5S rRNA were selected from a 48-mer random sequence library through 12 rounds of selection, cloned, and sequenced. Two groups of the selected RNA molecules had the consensus sequences GCGG and GUGAAA, respectively, which are present in the segment, G688 through A696, of E. coli 16S rRNA. The gel mobility shift assay showed that 5S rRNA interacted with the 16S rRNA fragment containing the GCGG and GUGAAA sequences. The enzymatic protection experiment shows that the A29CCUGA34 and G51AAGUG56 sequences of 5S rRNA and the C680AGG683 and G688CGG691 sequences of the 16S rRNA fragment are involved in the interaction between the two RNA molecules. On the basis of this observation, we suggest that 5S rRNA and 16S rRNA play a role for the association of two ribosomal subunits.

The electrochemical behavior of oxide layers on aluminium was studied using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Impedance spectra were taken at a compact and a porous oxide layer of Al. The anodic films on Al have a variable stoichiometry with gradual reduction of oxygen deficiency towards the oxide-electrolyte interface. Thus, the interpretation of impedance spectra for oxide layers is complicated, with the impedance of surface layers differing from those of ideal capacitors. This layer behavior with conductance gradients was caused by an inhomogeneous dielectric. The frequency response cannot be described by a single RC element. The oxide layers of Al are properly described by the Young model of dielectric constant with a vertical decay of conductivity.