Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Le but de ma thèse a été de réaliser de nouveaux composés hybrides constitués de nanotubes de carbone (ou fullerènes) et de nanotubes de peptide. L'approche choisie a consisté à greffer sur des nanotubes de carbone, ou dans un premier temps sur des fullerènes, via des bras espaceurs, des cyclopeptides « de type Ghadiri» conduisant aux nanotubes de peptide. Pour se faire, la synthèse de bras espaceurs a été nécessaire ainsi que leur fixation sur les nanotubes de carbones ou fullerènes. Les cyclopeptides sont constitués d'un nombre pair d'acides aminés (8) alternés D et L s'auto-assemblant en feuillets ß antiparallèles pour conduire à des nanotubes. Des essais de solubilisation du cyclopeptide diacide révèlent l'impossibilité d'utiliser ces composés en synthèse organique, dans la mesure ou ils ne sont pas solubles dans les solvants organiques classiques. Il a fallut ainsi revoir la synthèse en incluant soit le fullerène en cours de synthèse peptidique soit en modifiant les conditions pour permettre une solubilisation du peptide. Les composés synthétisés ont été caractérisés par différentes méthodes notamment en TEM, FT-IR, ATR, microscopie optique, diffusion de la lumière. De nouvelles applications aux peptides de Ghadiri ont été cherchées en imagerie (par encapsulation du Xénon hyperpolarisé dans les cavités). Il a été mis en évidence de nouvelles organisations cristallines des peptides possibles dans des conditions contrôlées à l'aide de contre ions tels que les éléments de la première colonne du tableau périodique (Li, Na, K, Rb, ou Cs). Ces organisations, différentes en fonction du contre ion choisi, ont un caractère fractal remarquable, une organisation cristalline régulière et on observe un réseau de liaisons hydrogène inattendu dans les conditions utilisés.

For more than 150 years, since the synthesis of urea by Friedrich Wöhler in 1828, molecular chemistry has developed a vast array of highly sophisticated and powerful methods for the construction of more complex molecular structures. Beyond the molecular chemistry based on the covalent bond, there lies the field of supramolecular chemistry, aims to gain control over the intermolecular bond. Supramolecular species are characterized both by the spatial arrangement of their components and by the nature of the intermolecular bonds that hold these components together. They possess well-defined structural, conformational, thermodynamic and kinetic properties. Research has been focused on utilization of such confined spaces to manipulate reaction dynamics, properties of the encapsulated guest molecules. This research presented in this thesis is a consolidated account of photophysical and photochemical reactions carried in water-soluble macrocycles, cavitands and dynamic host systems such as dendrimers and micelles. With the aid of NMR (1D and 2D) spectroscopic techniques, the host-guest complex characterization is executed.

This dissertation describes the effective encapsulation of redox active compounds inside deep-cavity cavitands: Gibb's octaacid40 and Rebek's 41 tetracarboxylate cavitand. Gibb's octaacid is a water-soluble, deep-cavity cavitand that forms well-characterized dimeric molecular capsules around hydrophobic guests. Both 1H NMR spectroscopic and voltammetric experiments clearly reveal that ferrocene plays the role of hydrophobic guest effectively. Ferrocene derivatives (ferrocenylmethyltrimethylammonium (FcNMe3+), ferrocenemethanol (FcOH), and ferrocene carboxylic acid (FcCOOH)) were also found to form inclusion complexes with octaacid cavitand however, in this case 1:1 (host to guest) ratio complexes are formed. This is in strong contrast with the dimeric capsule formed around ferrocene. Under the surveyed experimental conditions encapsulated ferrocene is electrochemically silent. We have also found that the negative charges around this dimeric molecular capsule play a very important role. For instance, hydrophobic cations, such as viologens,60 bind to the outer surface of the capsule. This opened a possibility of mediated electron transfer reactions between molecules bound inside the octaacid capsule and tightly attached to its outer surface in purely synthetic system. The cationic ferrocene derivative, ferrocenylmethyltrimethylammonium (FcNMe3+), was used as a mediator since its electrochemical potential range makes it suitable as a mediator molecule. In fact, our data clearly support that FcNMe3+ mediates electron transfer between encapsulated ferrocene and the electrode surface. Ferrocene, its derivatives (FcNMe3+ and FcOH), and cobaltocenium (Cob+) also form 1:1 inclusion complexes with Rebek's tetracarboxylate cavitand, which surprisingly are all voltammetrically silent. The formation of these inclusion complexes seems to be driven by hydrophobic interactions between the host and the guest. The lack of voltammetric response observed in this work is a very intriguing finding.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Research into anion-pi interactions has shifted from attempts to establish the legitimacy of the interaction to the incorporation of anion-pi interactions into supramolecular architectures. The research discussed in this dissertation explores the subtle effects of ligand, anion, and metal ion on supramolecular architectures of tetrazine-based ligands in the context of anion-pi interactions and their importance in the design and synthesis of supramolecular architectures. Computational studies highlight the importance of the arene quadrupole moment, molecular polarizability, and substituent effects on the strength of anion-pi interactions. More importantly, however, this work establishes that there is a distinct directionality inherent to the anion-pi interaction between polyatomic anions and N-heterocycles, which can be used to direct ligands in supramolecular architectures as demonstrated through the work of the Dunbar group in recent years, particularly that of the square and pentagonal metallacycles. The extension of metallacycles of bptz to CoII and FeII demonstrates the ability to tune the size of the metallacyclic cavity by simply changing the metal ion and results in the surprising encapsulation of two [SbF6]- anions in [Fe5(bptz)5(NCCH3)10][SbF6]10. 1H NMR spectroscopy and electrochemical studies reveal slight but significant differences characteristic of the square and pentagonal metallacycles and support the presence of anion-pi interactions in solution and highlight the importance of the encapsulated anion in the templation and stability of the metallacycles. A study of the interconversion between the square and pentagonal metallacycles via 1H NMR is presented for the first time. Increasing the pi-acidity of the chelating ligand from bptz to bmtz results in the encapsulation of only one [SbF6]- anion in [Fe5(bmtz)5(NCCH3)10][SbF6]10, maximizing anion-pi interactions with the ligand despite the tighter fit. A significant hurdle in the incorporation of different anions into the metallacyclic structures was overcome with the development of a new synthetic protocol for [Fe(NCCH3)6]2+ salts of a wide range of anions from sodium salts and Fe4Cl8(THF)6. Also, the nuclearity of the less stable [Fe5(bptz)5(NCCH3)10][PF6]10 metallacycle was established via a combination of MS, electrochemistry and 1H NMR experiments through comparisons with known FeII metallacycle solution behavior.

Design of self-assembling ABC-type collagen triple helical heterotrimers is challenging due to the number of competing species that can be formed in ternary mixture of peptides with a high propensity to fold into triple helices and the fact that well understood rules for pair-wise amino acid stabilization of the canonical collagen triple helix have remained elusive. Given the required one amino acid stagger between adjacent peptide strands in this fold, a ternary mixture of peptides can form as many as 27 triple helices with unique composition or register. Previously we have demonstrated that electrostatic interactions can be used to bias the helix population towards a desired target but the presence of competing states in mixtures has remained an outstanding problem. In this work we use high-resolution structural biology techniques to do a detailed study of stabilizing pair-wise interactions between positively and negatively charged amino acids in triple helices. Two types of contacts with distinct sequence requirements depending on the relative stagger of the interacting chains are observed: axial and lateral. Such register-specific interactions are crucial for the understanding of the registration process of collagens and the overall stability of proteins in this family. Using this knowledge we developed distinct design strategies to improve the specificity of our designed systems towards the desired ABC heterotrimeric target state. We validate our strategies through the synthesis and characterization of the designed sequences and show that they self-assemble into a highly stable ABC triple helices with control over composition in the case of the rational approach and with control over both composition and register in the case of the computational approach.

Self-organization is a common occurrence among molecules in nature and questions of how and why these molecules interact and come together by intermolecular forces has been under investigation by those interested in molecular recognition. Synthetic molecules able to mimic nature have become important in the area of supramolecular chemistry. Calixarenes are a group of molecules that is being investigated for their ability to self-assemble into dimeric capsules. Such capsules can be very useful for catalysis, molecular recognition and for encapsulation. The synthetic stratergies involved in the synthesis of a diureidocalix[4]arene is presented. In this case the taget molecule is a tetrapropylcalix[4]arene substituted on the upper rim with two urea groups separated by a hydrocarbon chain will be synthesized. This molecule can then be used to investigate its dimerization properties.

A novel methodology has been developed for the formation of block copolymers that combines ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) with functional chain-transfer agents (CTAs), functional chain-terminators (CTs) and self-assembly. Telechelic homopolymers of cyclooctene derivatives that are end-functionalized with hydrogen-bonding or metal-coordination sites are formed via the combination of ROMP with a corresponding functional CTA. These telechelic homopolymers are fashioned with a high control over molecular weight and without the need for post-polymerization procedures. The homopolymers undergo fast and efficient self-assembly with their complement homopolymer or small molecule analogues to form block copolymer architectures. The block copolymers have similar association constants to small molecule analogues described in the literature, regardless of size or the nature of the complementary unit or the polymer side-chain. The ROMP of side-chain functionalized norbornene polymers is coupled with functional CTs to produce block copolymer with main- and side-chain self-assembly sites. Combinations of these norbornene polymers with their complement polymer via self-assembly produce non-covalent AB type block copolymers fast and efficiently. ABA type block copolymers are realized by combining the difunctional homopolymer formed via the CTA pathway with the CT synthesized mono-functional polymer. These polymers show similar association constants regardless of the sequence of polymer formation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.