Selective observation of starch in a water plant using optical sum-frequency microscopy.

The photosynthesis, transfer, and storage of starch are the most important biogenic processes occurring in plants. In order to observe the colorless and transparent starch granules in a plant, a chemical pretreatment such as staining of the starch is currently required, which seriously damages the tissue cells in the plant. We demonstrate that nondestructive chemical analysis of starch granules in a plant can be performed by using optical second-harmonic and sum-frequency microscopy.

Effect of the mobility of ligands in polyrotaxanes on order structure of water clusters.

The effect of the mobility of ligands (maltose groups) in the polyrotaxanes (pRXs) on the structure of the surrounding water molecules was investigated. Raman spectra of collective OH stretching vibration of water molecules in aqueous solutions of maltose-pRX conjugates with different alpha-cyclodextrin (alpha-CD) threading on a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chain was measured. The mobility of maltose groups was estimated by measuring the relaxation time T2 of the C1 protons in maltose groups bound on alpha-CD by NMR experiment.