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Lasing via a phase retardation defect mode is reported for the first time. The Figure shows the far‐field pattern of laser emission realized by inserting an anisotropic nematic liquid crystal (LC) defect layer between polymer cholesteric LC layers. The system mimics the cuticle of Plusiotis resplendens, a beetle, using the birefringence of the anisotropic layer to achieve reflectance greater than the 50 % provided by simple cholesteric LC photonic bandgaps.

The chemoselective polymer blotting method allows for rapid and efficient synthesis of glycopeptides based on a "catch and release" strategy between solid-phase and water-soluble polymer supports. We have developed a heterobifunctional linker sensitive to glutamic acid specific protease (BLase). The general procedure consists of five steps, namely (i) the solid-phase synthesis of glycopeptide containing BLase sensitive linker, (ii) subsequent deprotections and the release of the glycopeptide from the resin, (iii) chemoselective blotting of the glycopeptide intermediates in the presence of water-soluble polymers with oxylamino functional groups, (iv) sugar elongations using glycosyltransferases, and (v) the release of target glycopeptides from the polymer platform by selective BLase promoted hydrolysis. The combined use of the solid-phase chemical syntheses of peptides and the enzymatic syntheses of carbohydrates on water-soluble polymers would greatly contribute to the production of complicated glycopeptide libraries, thereby enhancing applicative research. We report here a high-throughput synthetic system for the various types of MUC1 glycopeptides exhibiting a variety of sugar moieties. It is our belief that this concept will become part of the entrenched repertoire for the synthesis of biologically important glycopeptides on the basis of glycosyltransferase reactions in automated and combinatorial syntheses.

A new 2-D coordination network with 22.2-A square-grid coordination networks was prepared from a dicopper(II) tetraacetate [Cu2(AcO)4] as a linear linker motif and 5,10,15,20-tetra-4-pyridyl-21H,23H-porphine (H2TPyP) as a four-connected vertex, forming a regular high-porous structure. The characterization by N2 adsorption indicated that this coordination network has uniform micropores and gas adsorption cavities.

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Phase separation of polystyrene derivatives (PSS) and poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) mixtures was induced in the one-phase region by using photoisomerization of trans-stilbene moieties labeled on the PSS chains. The phase separation was monitored by phase-contrast optical microscopy and was analyzed using digital image analysis under various experimental conditions such as temperature, light intensity, and the blend composition. During the reaction, the spontaneous pinning of the phase separation process was observed as predicted by the linear stability analysis of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations (TDGL) proposed recently for chemically reacting systems. The photoisomerization in the one-phase region of the blends does not follow the mean-field kinetics and can be well expressed by the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts mechanism. By varying the annealing time and the reaction rates, it was found that the elastic stress resulting from the reaction inhomogeneity plays a key role in the emergence of lamella-like morphology. The correspondence between the phase separation of polymer blends accompanied by a reversible reaction and the microphase separation of diblock copolymers is discussed by comparing these experimental data with recent simulation using the TDGL equation for reacting mixtures. Finally, the morphology control based on phase separation induced by reversible reactions is discussed in terms of a wavelength selection process.

Notch receptors are cell surface glycoproteins that play key roles in a number of developmental cascades in metazoa. The extracellular domains of Notch-1 receptors are composed of 36 tandem epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like repeats, many of which are modified at highly conserved consensus sites by an unusual form of O-glycan, with O-fucose. The O-fucose residues on certain EGF repeats may be elongated. In mammalian cells this can be a tetrasaccharide, Siaα2,3Galβ1,4GlcNAcβ1,3Fucα1→. This elongation process is initiated by the action of O-fucose-specific β1,3 N-acetylglucosaminyltransferases of the Fringe family. There is evidence that the addition of GlcNAc by Fringe serves as an essential modulator of the interaction of Notch with its ligands and the triggering of activation. Here we describe the efficient synthesis, folding, and structural characterization of EGF repeat 12 (EGF 12) of a mouse Notch-1 receptor bearing different O-fucose glycan chains. We demonstrate that the three disulfide bonds, Cys(456)-Cys(467) (C1-C3), Cys(461)-Cys(476) (C2-C4), and Cys(478)-Cys(487) (C5-C6) were correctly formed in the nonglycosylated as well as the O-fucosylated forms of EGF 12. Three-dimensional structural studies by NMR reveal that the methyl group of fucose is in close contact with ILe(475), Met(477), Pro(478) residues and this stabilizes the conformation of the antiparallel β-sheet of EGF 12. The addition of the GlcNAc residue on O-fucosylated EGF 12 induces a significant conformational change in the adjacent tripeptide sequence, Gln(462)Asn(463)Asp(464), which is a motif involved in the natural, enzymatic O-fucosylation at the conserved site (Cys(461)X(4)Ser/ThrCys(467)).