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When a 1:2 gas mixture of CO and H2, namely syngas, was contacted onto Co/SiO2 catalyst at 513 K with low pressure such as 0.2 kg/cm2, G, methanation was preferentially promoted, whereas chain propagation was suppressed. In contrast to this, when 1:3 gas mixture of ethene and syngas was fed onto Co/SiO2 catalyst under the same conditions, hourly productivity of light hydrocarbons involving C3 fraction was increased 3.3-fold as much as that in the case flowing syngas alone at that condition. It was deduced that formation of light hydrocarbon like C3 was caused by capturing methylidene (=CH2) species by ethene on Co/SiO2 catalyst on which reverse metathesis (C2H4 + 2-C4H8 → 2C3H6) following the dimerization of ethene was not concerned with C3 formation. In addition, a small amount of liquefied hydrocarbons was collected despite the low pressure and chain growth probability (α) was presumed 0.73. It might be suggested that co-feeding ethene and syngas onto FT active catalyst like Co/SiO2 was one of effective methods to obtain light hydrocarbons including C3 fraction at low pressure.

In the presence of palladium on carbon (Pd/C) as a catalyst, hydrogenation of aliphatic nitriles in cyclohexane efficiently proceeded at 25-60 °C under ordinary hydrogen gas pressure to afford the corresponding tertiary amines. However, the use of rhodium on carbon (Rh/C) led to the highly selective generation of secondary amines. Hydrogenation of aromatic nitriles and cyclohexanecarbonitrile selectively produced secondary amines in the presence of either Pd/C or Rh/C.

The unprecedented aggregate of a transition-metalated phosphinoborane was reported. Cp(CO) 2 Fe{P(BCl 3 )HPh} was treated with n -BuLi to yield the iron-phosphinoborane dimer, [Cp(CO) 2 Fe{P(μ-BCl 2 )Ph}] 2 , via a dehydrohalogenation reaction. The X-ray structural study revealed that the dimer has a bent P 2 B 2 4-membered ring with two iron complex fragments in equatorial positions.

群馬県桐生市のいくつかの家庭の電力・給湯・都市ガスの各使用量を実測し，このデータを基に家庭用燃料電池システムの導入を想定した際のエネルギー計算を行なった．都市ガスを利用する燃料電池システムの導入に伴うエネルギーコストの削減効果の観点から，各家庭に最適な燃料電池の定格出力を求めた．家族構成，季節の違いによる結果の比較も行った．調査した標準家庭の多くでは，最適定格出力が0.5–1.0kWの範囲であった．また，パラメータ変動による最適定格出力や利益への影響についての検討も行なった．

Diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) phosphorylates DG to generate phosphatidic acid. Recently, we found that a new alternative splicing product of the DGKη gene, DGKη3, which lacks exon 26 encoding 31 amino acid residues, was expressed only in the secondary spermatocytes and round spermatids of the testis. In this study, we cloned the full length DGKη3 gene and confirmed the endogenous expression of its protein product. During the cloning procedure, we found a new testis-specific alternative splicing product of the DGKη gene, DGKη4, which lacks half of the catalytic domain. We examined the DGK activity and subcellular localization of DGKη3 and η4. DGKη3 had almost the same activity as DGKη1, whereas the activity of DGKη4 was not detectable. In resting NEC8 cells (human testicular germ cell tumor cell line), DGKη1, η3 and η4 were broadly distributed in the cytoplasm. When osmotically shocked, DGKη1 and η4 were distributed in punctate vesicles in the cytoplasm. In contrast, DGKη3 was partly translocated to the plasma membrane and co-localized with the actin cytoskeleton. These results suggest that DGKη3 and η4 have properties different from those of DGKη1 and that they play roles in the testis in a different manner.

It is widely accepted that mental stress is an important factor in the development of psychological disorders such as depression. On pre-existing evidence, the so-called green odor may have a relieving and sedative effect on animals exposed to stressful situations. Using two behavioral models of depression, the forced-swim test and learned helplessness paradigm, we investigated whether inhalation of green odor (a 50:50 mixture of trans-2-hexenal and cis-3-hexenol) might alleviate and/or prevent experimentally induced depressive-like states in rats. A 3-min swim every day for 7 days resulted in significant prolongation of immobility time (vs. day 1). Inhaling green odor, but not vehicle, thereafter for 10 days (without swimming) led to the prolonged immobility time being significantly reduced and the hippocampal level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) being significantly increased. In the learned helplessness paradigm, the failure number and time spent in the shock compartment seen in the active avoidance test were both significantly attenuated in those rats that inhaled green odor for 11 days after the postshock screening test (vs. vehicle-exposed rats). Finally, for 10 consecutive days rats continuously exposed to green odor or vehicle swam for 3 min/day. Immobility time was significantly shorter in the green-odor group than in the vehicle-exposed group on days 6-10. These results suggest that green odor has not only a therapeutic, but also a preventive effect on depressive-like states in rats. These effects may be at least in part due to a green odor-induced upregulation of BDNF in the hippocampus.

Multiply charged iron atoms up to Fe(6+) with few carbon ions were produced from ferrocene under intense femtosecond laser fields. The production of Fe(4+) and Fe(5+) from ferrocene requires much less laser intensity than theoretically expected for iron atoms. The dissociation of ferrocene and the generation mechanism of multiply charged iron atoms are discussed.