Electrochemical formal homocoupling of sec-alcohols

Electrochemical pinacol coupling of carbonyl compounds in an undivided cell with a sacrificial anode would be a promising approach toward synthetically valuable vic-1,2-diol scaffolds without using low-valent metal reductants. However, sacrificial anodes produce an equimolar amount of metal waste, which may be a major issue in terms of sustainable chemistry. Herein, we report a sacrificial anode-free electrochemical protocol for the synthesis of pinacol-type vic-1,2-diols from sec-alcohols, namely benzyl alcohol derivatives and ethyl lactate. The corresponding vic-1,2-diols are obtained in moderate to good yields, and good to high levels of stereoselectivity are observed for sec-benzyl alcohol derivatives. The present transformations smoothly proceed in a simple undivided cell under constant current conditions without the use of external chemical oxidants/reductants, and transitionmetal catalysts

High phosphate diet reduces atherosclerosis formation in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice

Although higher serum phosphate level is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in general population as well as chronic kidney disease patients, it has not been clarified whether higher phosphate can affect atherosclerotic plaque formation. In this study, we investigated the effect of prolonged-intake of different concentrations of phosphate on atherosclerosis formation using apolipoprotein E-deficient mice. Apolipoprotein E-deficient mice were fed with high fat diet including 0.6%, 1.2% or 1.8% phosphate. After 20-week treatment, atherosclerotic plaque formation in aorta in 1.8% phosphate diet group was unexpectedly less than that in the other groups. To elucidate mechanisms of suppression of plaque formation by high phosphate diet, we hypothesized that high phosphate diet may modify a profile of monocytes/macrophages suppressing plaque formation. We confirmed that elevated peripheral monocytes (CD11b+, F4/80+ cell numbers) in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice were decreased by feeding with 1.8% P diet. In addition, ex vivo study indicated that high dose of phosphate induced macrophage apoptosis. These observations suggest that excess phosphate intake decreased atherosclerosis formation, at least in part, by changing the profile of peripheral monocytes or inducing apoptosis of macrophages in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice

First-Principles Study of Electric Field Effects on Magnetic Anisotropy in Ultrathin Ferromagnetic TM (TM = Fe, Co) Films on Pt(111) Underlayer

We study the electric field (EF) effects on the magnetic anisotropy in the ultrathin ferromagnetic TM (TM = Fe, Co) films on the Pt(111) underlayer using relativistic first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory with a special attention on the effects of Pt segregation. The magnetic anisotropy energy, MAE, and the spin magnetic moment, Mspin, of the Pt/TM/Pt(111) and BeO/Pt/TM/Pt(111) systems as well as those of the TM/Pt(111) and BeO/TM/Pt(111) systems are calculated in the absence of or under the EF. It is found that the MAE and its EF dependence of the BeO/Pt/TM/Pt(111) systems, especially those of the BeO/Pt/Co/Pt(111) system, are considerably large. The sign of the EF dependence is such that the MAE and Mspin are increased (decreased) when the EF increases (decreases) the number of electrons in the system. We attribute this unique behavior to the formation of the hybridized majority-spin states originated in the O 2pz, Pt 5d3z2−r2, and TM 3d orbitals of the interfacial atoms

Voltage-assisted Magnetization Switching in Ultrathin Fe80Co20 Alloy Layers

Growing demands for the voltage-driven spintronic applications with ultralow-power consumption have led to new interest in exploring the voltage-induced magnetization switching in ferromagnetic metals. In this study, we observed a large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy change in Au(001) / ultrathin Fe80Co20(001) / MgO(001) / Polyimide / ITO junctions, and succeeded in realizing a clear switching of magnetic easy axis between in-plane and perpendicular directions. Furthermore, employing a perpendicularly magnetized film, voltage-induced magnetization switching in the perpendicular direction under the assistance of magnetic fields was demonstrated. These pioneering results may open a new window of electric-field controlled spintronics devices

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM