1991T-like supernovae are the luminous, slow-declining extreme of the Branch shallow-silicon (SS) subclass of Type Ia supernovae. They are distinguished by extremely weak Ca ii H & K and Si ii lambda 6355 and strong Fe iii absorption features in their optical spectra at pre-maximum phases, and have long been suspected to be over-luminous compared to normal Type Ia supernovae. In this paper, the pseudo-equivalent width of the Si ii lambda 6355 absorption obtained at light curve phases from <= +10 days is combined with the morphology of the i-band light curve to identify a sample of 1991T-like supernovae in the Carnegie Supernova Project II. Hubble diagram residuals show that, at optical as well as near-infrared wavelengths, these events are over-luminous by similar to 0.1-0.5 mag with respect to the less extreme Branch SS (1999aa-like) and Branch core-normal supernovae with similar B-band light-curve decline rates.

Chiral aminomethylnaphthols have been prepared highly diastereoselective by means of three-component `Betti condensation", using steroidal 2-naphthol analogue, synthesized from estrone. The use of 2-methoxybenzaldehyde or 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde as aldehyde component and (S)-(-)-1-phenylethan-1-amine or (S)-(-)-1-(naphthalen-2-yl)ethan-1-amine, as chiral non-racemic amine component providing the diastereoselectivity, allowed the synthesis of structurally diverse aminomethylnaphthols. The latter easily form 1,3-dihydronaphthoxazines through reaction with formaldehyde. The absolute configurations of the new aminomethylnaphthols synthesized have been determined through advanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments and confirmed by X-ray crystallography. The chiral steroidal aminomethylnaphthols obtained as pure diastereoisomers have been evaluated as pre-catalysts in the enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes with enantioselectivities of up to 97% ee.

Tracing the deep geological water cycle requires knowledge of the hydrogen isotope systematics between and within hydrous materials. For quenched hydrous alkali-silicate melts, hydrogen NMR reveals a distinct heterogeneity in the distribution of stable hydrogen isotopes (D, H) within the silicate tetrahedral network, where deuterons concentrate strongly in network regions that are associated with alkali cations. Previous hydrogen NMR studies performed in the sodium tetrasilicate system (Na2O x 4SiO2, NS4) with a 1:1 D2O/H2O ratio showed on average 1300 %o deuterium enrichment in the alkali-associated network, but the effect on varying bulk D2O/ H2O ratios on this intramolecular isotope effect remained unconstrained. Experiments in the hydrous sodium tetrasilicate system with 8 wt% bulk water and varying bulk D2O/H2O ratios were performed at 1400 degrees C and 1.5 GPa. It is found that both hydrogen isotopes preferably partition into the silicate network that is associated with alkali ions. The partitioning is always stronger for the deuterated than for the protonated hydrous species. The relative enrichment of deuterium over protium in the alkali-associated network, i.e., the intramolecular isotope effect, correlates positively with the D2O/H2O bulk ratio of the hydrous NS4 system. Modeled for natural deuterium abundance (D/H near 1.56 x 10-4), a 1.4-fold (c. 340 %o) deuterium enrichment in the alkaliassociated silicate network is predicted. The partitioning model further predicts a positive correlation between the bulk water content of the silicate melt and the intramolecular deuterium partitioning into the alkaliassociated silicate network. Such heterogeneities may explain the magnitude and direction of hydrogen isotope fractionation in hydrous silicate melts coexisting with silicate-saturated fluids. As such, this intramolecular isotope effect appears to be an effective mechanism for deuterium separation, particularly in hydrous magmatic settings, such as subduction zones.

Physiological and gene expression studies of deep-sea bacteria under pressure conditions similar to those experienced in their natural habitat are critical for understanding growth kinetics and metabolic adaptations to in situ conditions. The Campylobacterium (aka Epsilonproteobacterium) Nautilia sp. strain PV-1 was isolated from hydrothermal fluids released from an active deep-sea hydrothermal vent at 9° N on the East Pacific Rise. Strain PV-1 is a piezophilic, moderately thermophilic, chemolithoautotrophic anaerobe that conserves energy by coupling the oxidation of hydrogen to the reduction of nitrate or elemental sulfur. Using a high-pressure-high temperature continuous culture system, we established that strain PV-1 has the shortest generation time of all known piezophilic bacteria and we investigated its protein expression pattern in response to different hydrostatic pressure regimes. Proteogenomic analyses of strain PV-1 grown at 20 and 5MPa showed that pressure adaptation is not restricted to stress response or homeoviscous adaptation but extends to enzymes involved in central metabolic pathways. Protein synthesis, motility, transport, and energy metabolism are all affected by pressure, although to different extents. In strain PV-1, low-pressure conditions induce the synthesis of phage-related proteins and an overexpression of enzymes involved in carbon fixation.

The atmospheres of gas giant planets are thought to be inhomogeneous due to weather and patchy clouds. We present two full nights of coronagraphic observations of the HR 8799 planets using the CHARIS integral field spectrograph behind the SCExAO adaptive optics system on the Subaru Telescope to search for spectrophomometric variability. We did not detect significant variability signals, but placed the lowest variability upper limits for HR 8799c and d. Based on injection-recovery tests, we expected to have a 50% chance to detect signals down to 10% H-band photometric variability for HR 8799c and down to 30% H-band variability for HR 8799d. We also investigated spectral variability and expected a 50% chance to recover 20% variability in the H/K flux ratio for HR 8799c. We combined all the data from the two nights to obtain some of the most precise spectra obtained for HR 8799c, d, and e. Using a grid of cloudy radiative-convective-thermochemical equilibrium models, we found all three planets prefer supersolar metallicity with effective temperatures of similar to 1100 K. However, our high signal-to-noise spectra show that HR 8799d has a distinct spectrum from HR 8799c, possibly preferring more vertically extended and uniform clouds and indicating that the planets are not identical.

As an element ubiquitous in the Solar system, the isotopic composition of iron exhibits rich variations in different planetary reservoirs. Such variations reflect the diverse range of differentiation and evolution processes experienced by their parent bodies. A key in deciphering iron isotope variations among planetary samples is to understand how iron isotopes fractionate during core formation. Here we report new Nuclear Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering experiments on silicate glasses of bulk silicate Earth compositions to measure their force constants at high pressures of up to 30 GPa. The force constant results are subsequently used to constrain iron isotope fractionation during core formation on terrestrial planets. Using a model that integrates temperature, pressure, core composition, and redox state of the silicate mantle, we show that core formation might lead to an isotopically light mantle for small planetary bodies but a heavy one for Earth-sized terrestrial planets.

Despite decades of work, the origin of pallasite meteorites has remained enigmatic. Long thought to be samples of the core-mantle boundary of differentiated asteroids, more recent studies have suggested a range of mechanisms for pallasite formation. These include olivine-metal mixing during a planetesimal collision and the intrusion of over-pressured core liquids into a planetesimal mantle. Establishing if the olivine and metal that comprise pallasites were once equilibrated at high temperature remains key to discriminating between these hypotheses. To this end, we determined the iron isotope compositions of olivine and metal in eleven main-group pallasites and found, in all cases, that olivine is isotopically lighter than metal. To interpret these data, we constrained the olivine-metal equilibrium Fe isotope fractionation with ab initio calculations and high temperature experiments. These independent approaches show that olivine preferentially incorporates the heavy isotopes of iron relative to metal. Our results demonstrate that pallasitic olivine and metal never achieved isotopic equilibrium with respect to iron. This precludes extended cooling at high temperature and is best reconciled with an impact origin for the main-group pallasites.