Self-assembled monolayer system, which makes chemical bonds between surface atoms of the solid/electrode surface and molecules and lateral interaction between adsorbed molecules, has been very widely employed to construct ordered molecular layers. Self-assembled monolayers of alkylthiols on gold electrode have been the most well-studied system. This method produces wide varieties of potential applications such as sensors, corrosion inhibition, wetting control, and bio-mimetic electro-devices. For adding the specific functionality on the electrode surface, it becomes very important to understand the modified structure and its growth process. In this article, the self-assembled process and typical functionalities of the self-assembled monolayers of (alkyl) thiol derivatives are described mainly based on the results obtained in my works.

There are the some papers on Diels-Alder (DA) reactions of 1,2-dihydropyridines with acrylates. These reactions gave the isoquinuclidine derivatives which is found widely in natural products, particularly among the Iboga family of alkaloids. The variation that have been investigated are those in which 1:the dihydropyridine or the dienophile has a chiral auxiliary 2: the catalytic asymmetric DA reaction. The DA reaction of 1,2-dihydropyridine using cationic catalysts afforded the isoquinuclidine in high yields and excellent ee’s.

Stomata, tiny pores on the surface of a plant body, serve as a conduit between a plant and the atmosphere. Recent progress in my laboratory and others using a model plant Arabidopsis revealed that distribution and patterning of stomata are regulated by cell-cell signaling mediated by receptor molecules. This review highlights how such intercellular communication leads to proper cell fate decisions during stomatal development.

This review article briefly summarizes recent findings on the stage- dependent fate change of mouse neocortical neural precursor cells. The central nervous system in mammals consists of various types of neurons as well as glial cells, which are all derived from common precursor cells, aka, neural precursor cells. During development, neurogenesis precedes gliogenesis, although the underlying mechanisms of this temporal fate switch remain unclear. This article describes general ideas regarding this fate switch regulated by extrinsic and intrinsic cell fate determinants.

3-Nitrobenzanthrone (3-NBA), present in air-born particulates and/or diesel exhaust particles, exhibits very strong mutagenicity. The mutagenic activities of its isomers, however, markedly decrease in the order 3- > 9- > 1-> 2- > 11-NBA and contrary to the usual way the activities of three dinitrobenzanthrones (DNBAs), 3,9-,1,9-, and 3,11-DNBA, arranged in the order of decreasing mutagenicity, are lower than that of the mononitrobenzanthrone, 3-NBA. To elucidate such specific behavior of NBAs and DNBAs in their mutagenicity theoretically, we postulated their metabolic activation pathway and calculated physicochemical properties, such as heats of formation, highest-occupied-molecular-orbital (HOMO) and lowest-unoccupied-molecular-orbital (LUMO) energies, of the parent molecules, metabolites, and ultimate mutagens by the semi-empirical molecular orbital method. The calculated results indicated that the difference in the mutagenicity of the isomeric NBAs and DNBAs originates from the LUMO energy of the parent molecules and nitrosometabolites; the lower their LUMO energy, the faster the rate of initial reductive reactions leading to formation of hydroxylamines. The decrease in the mutagenicity of the DNBAs is ascribed to lower HOMO energies of their hydroxylamino and amino metabolites compared with those of corresponding metabolites of the NBAs; the lower their HOMO energy, the faster their excretion.

In early stage of the first instar larvae of Japanese horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus, the midgut gland was not yet completed in the prosoma. A number of yolk granules and some connective tissue networks were partitioned into several compartments in the prosoma. In this stage, esterase activity was detected only in muscular tissues and it was suppressed by eserine, showing its choline esterase nature. Then the compartments became narrower into tubules which developed into the midgut diverticula. The yolk granules in the tubules decreased in number and in size, and the connective tissue networks grew and surrounded the tubules. Just before the first ecdysis, the esterase activity was detected in eosinophil granules appeared in the tubules. The activity was strengthened by the taurocholic acid, as a lipase-like feature of the esterase. In the second instar larvae 3 weeks after the first ecdysis, the midgut diverticula with eosinophil granules concomitant with lipase-like esterase were completed. Slender epithelial cells that were observed in adult female diverticula and loaded with these granules were rarely observed in these young diverticula. From the present results, the midgut gland involved in digestion and absorption of nourishment in larvae was shown to be accomplished around ecdysis between the first and the second instars.

Having achieved remarkable developments in science and technology recently, Japan has still fewer women playing active roles in these fields than those of other advanced nations.

While the previous researches have pointed out that a variety of aspects in gender bias including education, working condition and scientific knowledge hamper women’s entry into the field of science, my research this time took note of a trend of “course choice at high school”. Educational reform of high school in Japan is making a progress in that it allows students to have more freedom in choosing subjects they study, recognizing curriculum to be diversified. It, however, only remains true in institutions and systems, and in reality, courses are typically arranged as either humanities or sciences which are set up by individual high schools at their discretion.

A result of questionnaire survey I conducted in 2004 unraveled that more females wavered in choosing course compared with males in general, and a large gender gap could be witnessed in science course in special. The reason why females confused between humanities and sciences included lack of confidence, opposition from people around them, ambiguous vision over their future, and so on. Through analysis of cross tabulation and data from free comments questionnaire, I stressed that course choice either humanities or sciences is likely to spur the gender differentiation so called men or women, and at the same time, is considered as a remote cause of scarcity of women in science course.

A Division for Gender Equality, which is installed in a Committee for Science in the 20^th generation Science Council of Japan, is mainly concerning about the participation of women in the fields of science and technology. Here such activities are introduced. The present situation of girl students and women’s professors, researchers and engineers is taken in. Next, the items in the face and the subjects to be solved are analyzed. Especially, the promotion in the participation of women’s scientists and engineers in the field of natural science is drastically serious and has to be considered. Subsequently the discussion is going on towards taking a step.