Molecular elastic crystals exhibiting slow magnetic relaxations.

We report an elastic crystal of a copper(II) porphyrinato complex that exhibits slow magnetic relaxations and is a promising candidate for an external-force-responsive spin qubit.

Ultra-High-Capacity Lithium Metal Batteries Based on Multi-Electron Redox Reaction of Organopolysulfides including Conductive Organic Moieties.

Recently, organic polysulfides have been synthesized as cathode active materials exceeding the battery performance of sulfur. However, the conventional organic polysulfides have exhibited capacities lower than the theoretical capacity of sulfur because the π-organic moieties do not conjugate with the sulfur chains. In this work, the organopolysulfides, synthesized via inverse vulcanization using disulfide compounds, exhibited higher capacities equal to the theoretical capacity of sulfur because of enhanced electronic conductivity based on the conjugation between organic moieties and sulfur chains.

Ionic liquid-containing coordination polymer: solvent-free synthesis, incongruent melting, and glass formation.

An ionic-liquid-containing 2D coordination polymer was synthesized a solvent-free reaction. The material exhibited incongruent melting at 112 °C, forming a solid-liquid mixture; further heating to 240 °C led to complete melting. Upon cooling, the melt transformed into a solid-liquid mixture, from which the coordination polymer was gradually recovered at ambient temperature.

Reactive sulfur species inhibit the migration of PDGF-treated vascular smooth muscle cells by blocking the reactive oxygen species-regulated Akt signaling pathway.

Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) migration contributes to vascular remodeling after injury, whereas oxidative stress generated through dysfunctional redox homeostasis induces hypermigration, leading to arteriosclerosis. Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) serve as intracellular signaling molecules in VSMCs. Reactive sulfur species (RSS) may serve as a biological defense system because of the antioxidative properties of highly nucleophilic sulfane sulfur.

Crystallization and fusion behaviors, observed by adiabatic calorimetry, of benzene confined in silica mesopores with uniform diameters.

Heat capacities and spontaneous enthalpy-relaxation effects of the benzene confined in silica MCM-41 and SBA-15 pores with uniform diameters were measured by high-precision adiabatic calorimetry. The fusion temperatures and fusion enthalpies determined were compared with the literature results of benzene confined within pores of CPG glasses. It was confirmed, from the observed spontaneous heat-release or -absorption effects, that there exists a non-crystallizing amorphous component of confined benzene, as reported previously.

Stereoselective synthesis and NMR characterization of C-24 epimeric pairs of 24-alkyl oxysterols.

Two pairs of C-24 epimeric (24R)-/(24S)-24-hydroxy-24-methyl-5α-cholestan-3β-yl acetates and (24R)-/(24S)-25-hydroxy-24-methyl-5α-cholestan-3β-yl acetates as well as some related 24-ethyl oxysterol analogs were stereoselectively synthesized directly from the respective parent 24-alkyl sterols by a remote O-insertion reaction with 2,6-dichloropyridine N-oxide (DCP) in the presence of a catalytic amount of (5,10,15,20-tetramesitylporphrinate) ruthenium(II) carbonyl complex [Ru(TMP)CO] and HBr. ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR signals serving to differentiate each of the two epimeric pairs were interpreted. The C-24 alkyl oxysterols epimeric at C-24 were found to be effectively characterized by the aromatic solvent-induced shift (ASIS) by C₅D₅N, particularly for the difference in the ¹³C resonances in the substituted cholestane side chain.

Roles of the C-terminal residues of calmodulin in structure and function.

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), circular dichroism (CD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, flow dialysis, and bioactivity measurements were employed to investigate the roles of the C-terminal residues of calmodulin (CaM). In the present study, we prepared a series of truncated mutants of chicken CaM that lack four (CCMΔ4) to eight (CCMΔ8) residues at the C-terminal end. It was found that CCMΔ4, lacking the last four residues (M145 to K148), binds four Ca ions.

Piezotolerance of the respiratory terminal oxidase activity of the piezophilic Shewanella violacea DSS12 as compared with non-piezophilic Shewanella species.

The facultative piezophile Shewanella violacea DSS12 is known to alter its respiratory components under the influence of hydrostatic pressure during growth, suggesting that it has a respiratory system that functions in adaptation to high pressure. We investigated the pressure- and temperature-dependencies of the respiratory terminal oxidase activity of the membrane of S. violacea relative to non-piezophilic Shewanella species.

Anomalous dielectric behavior and thermal motion of water molecules confined in channels of porous coordination polymer crystals.

Guest water molecules confined in channels of porous coordination polymer crystals [Ln(2)Cu(3)(IDA)(6)]·nH(2)O (Ln = La, Nd, Sm, Gd, Ho, Er; IDA = [NH(CH(2)COO)(2)](2-); n ≈ 9) exhibited large dielectric constants (ε) and antiferroelectric behaviors at high temperatures (e.g., ε(Sm) ≈ 1300 at 400 K).

Surfactant-free solution synthesis of fluorescent platinum subnanoclusters.

We have demonstrated the first surfactant-free synthesis of fluorescent Pt nanoclusters in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution. The Pt nanoclusters consist of 4 to 6 Pt atoms. They form highly stable dispersions in water, under both acidic (pH 2) and basic conditions (pH 12), and at ionic strengths of 1 M NaCl.

Functionalized pyrolytic highly oriented graphite polymer film for surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry in environmental analysis.

The pyrolytic highly oriented graphite polymer film (PGS) was first employed to analyze low-mass analytes in environmental analysis by surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS). PGS is a synthetic uniform and highly oriented graphite polymer film with high thermal anisotropic conductivity. We have found that negative ion mode SALDI-MS using oxidized PGS (PGS-SALDI-MS) can be used to detect [M-H]- ions from perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and other perfluoroalkylcarboxylic acids when the PGS surface is modified with the cationic polymer polyethyleneimine (PEI).