Efforts to identify and develop new superconducting materials continue apace, motivated by both fundamental science and the prospects for application. For example, several new superconducting material systems have been developed in the recent past, including calcium-intercalated graphite compounds, boron-doped diamond and-most prominently-iron arsenides such as LaO(1-x)F(x)FeAs (ref. 3). In the case of organic superconductors, however, no new material system with a high superconducting transition temperature (T(c)) has been discovered in the past decade. Here we report that intercalating an alkali metal into picene, a wide-bandgap semiconducting solid hydrocarbon, produces metallic behaviour and superconductivity. Solid potassium-intercalated picene (K(x)picene) shows T(c) values of 7 K and 18 K, depending on the metal content. The drop of magnetization in K(x)picene solids at the transition temperature is sharp (<2 K), similar to the behaviour of Ca-intercalated graphite. The T(c) of 18 K is comparable to that of K-intercalated C(60) (ref. 4). This discovery of superconductivity in K(x)picene shows that organic hydrocarbons are promising candidates for improved T(c) values.

New carbon-based superconductors are synthesized by intercalating metal atoms into the solid-phase hydrocarbons picene and coronene. The highest reported superconducting transition temperature, T(c), of a hydrocarbon superconductor is 18 K for K(3)picene. The physics and chemistry of the hydrocarbon superconductors are extensively described for A(x)picene (A: alkali and alkali earth-metal atoms) for x = 0-5. The theoretical picture of their electronic structure is also reviewed. Future prospects for hydrocarbon superconductors are discussed from the viewpoint of combining electronics with condensed-matter physics: modification of the physical properties of hydrocarbon solids is explored by building them into a field-effect transistor. The features of other carbon-based superconductors are compared to clarify the nature of hydrocarbon superconductors.

A field-effect transistor (FET) with thin films of picene has been fabricated on SiO2 gate dielectric. The FET showed p-channel enhancement-type FET characteristics with the field-effect mobility, mu, of 1.1 cm2 V-1 s-1 and the on-off ratio of >10(5). This excellent device performance was realized under atmospheric conditions. The mu increased with an increase in temperature, and the FET performance was improved by exposure to air or O2 for a long time. This result implies that this device is an air (O2)-assisted FET. The FET characteristics are discussed on the basis of structural topography and the energy diagram of picene thin films.

Transport characteristics and trap states are investigated in picene thin film field-effect transistor under O2 atmosphere on the basis of multiple shallow trap and release (MTR) model. The channel transport is dominated by MTR below 300 K. It has been clarified on the basis of MTR model that the O2-exposure induces a drastic reduction in shallow trap density to increase both the field-effect mobility μ and on-off ratio. We also found that the O2-exposure never caused an increase in hole carrier density. Actually, a very high μ value of 3.2 cm2 V−1 s−1 is realized under 500 Torr of O2.

Background Despite recent interest in glycogen synthase kinase-3b (GSK-3b) as a target for the treatment of mood disorders, there has been very little work related to these illnesses on the upstream signaling molecules that regulate this kinase, as well as downstream targets. Methods Using a focused microarray approach we examined the influence of different classes of antidepressants on Wnt signaling that controls GSK-3b activity as well as the transcription factors that contribute to the actions of GSK-3b. Results The results demonstrate that Wnt2 is a common target of different classes of antidepressants, and also show differential regulation of Wnt-GSK-3b signaling genes. Increased expression and function of Wnt2 was confirmed by secondary measures. Moreover, using a viral vector approach we demonstrate that increased expression of Wnt2 in the hippocampus is sufficient to produce antidepressant-like behavioral actions in well-established models of depression and treatment response. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that Wnt2 expression and signaling is a common target of antidepressants and that increased Wnt2 is sufficient to produce antidepressant effects.

Many chemists have attempted syntheses of extended π-electron network molecules because of the widespread interest in the chemistry, physics and materials science of such molecules and their potential applications. In particular, extended phenacene molecules, consisting of coplanar fused benzene rings in a repeating W-shaped pattern have attracted much attention because field-effect transistors (FETs) using phenacene molecules show promisingly high performance. Until now, the most extended phenacene molecule available for transistors was [8]phenacene, with eight benzene rings, which showed very high FET performance. Here, we report the synthesis of a more extended phenacene molecule, [9]phenacene, with nine benzene rings. Our synthesis produced enough [9]phenacene to allow the characterization of its crystal and electronic structures, as well as the fabrication of FETs using thin-film and single-crystal [9]phenacene. The latter showed a field-effect mobility as high as 18 cm2 V−1 s−1, which is the highest mobility realized so far in organic single-crystal FETs.

Field-effect transistors (FETs) were fabricated with a thin film of 3,10-ditetradecylpicene, picene-(C14H29)2, formed using either a thermal deposition or a deposition from solution (solution process). All FETs showed p-channel normally-off characteristics. The field-effect mobility, μ, in a picene-(C14H29)2 thin-film FET with PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 (PZT) gate dielectric reached ~21 cm2 V−1 s−1, which is the highest μ value recorded for organic thin-film FETs; the average μ value (<μ>) evaluated from twelve FET devices was 14(4) cm2 V−1 s−1. The <μ> values for picene-(C14H29)2 thin-film FETs with other gate dielectrics such as SiO2, Ta2O5, ZrO2 and HfO2 were greater than 5 cm2 V−1 s−1, and the lowest absolute threshold voltage, |Vth|, (5.2 V) was recorded with a PZT gate dielectric; the average |Vth| for PZT gate dielectric is 7(1) V. The solution-processed picene-(C14H29)2 FET was also fabricated with an SiO2 gate dielectric, yielding μ = 3.4 × 10−2 cm2 V−1 s−1. These results verify the effectiveness of picene-(C14H29)2 for electronics applications.

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