The literature on nanomaterials has been flooded with new shapes, sizes, and compositions of nanostructures. The process of developing and characterizing these particles has been broadly accomplished and many interesting and promising properties have been revealed for application in current and developing technologies. In particular, the phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance seen in metallic gold and silver nanoparticles has drawn substantial interest. It has been established that the electromagnetic fields surrounding plasmonic particle surfaces can influence the properties of nearby systems, causing them to experience effects such as enhanced absorption and emission of light or drastically increased conductivity. For this reason, plasmonic nanoparticles are being applied to an endless number of applications for new materials. This thesis investigated the effects of silver nanocube (AgNC) arrays on the photophysical properties of poly(paraphenyleneethynylene) (PPE) fluorescent polymers, a particularly relevant material to the applications of organic-electronics. AgNCs were selected because of their particularly strong plasmonic field, which is enhanced at the sharp features of the cubes. The PPE polymer is an exceptionally fluorescent conjugated polymer that often serves as a building block for polymer-based sensing applications. By monitoring the absorption and emission of the PPE polymer, a better understanding of plasmonic effects on this polymer system was obtained. Compression of the monolayer of AgNCs on the surface of a Langmuir-Blodgett trough can be used for control of interparticle distance and, thus, the plasmon field intensity felt by an adsorbed layer of PPE polymer. In the Chapter 4, PPE (n = 15) emission was monitored as a function of the AgNC plasmonic field. A two-photon process was found to explain the unusual increase then decrease of the fluorescence intensity. This observation was attributed to exciton-exciton annihilation processes within the polymer. The annihilation process is initiated by large enhancements of the polymer absorption rate when plasmonic fields are at their highest (when the AgNCs are compressed to short interparticle distances). In chapter 5, the optical properties of PPE polymers as a function of their chain length and the AgNC density were examined. A simple study was conducted to consider the conformational/geometrical effects on PPE that were caused by the deposition of PPE onto the AgNC topography. In this study, the structure of the absorption and emission profiles were evaluated and used as evidence of polymer interchain interactions, planarization, and even the potential generation of oligomeric species through breaking of conjugation. Fundamental interactions between materials must be evaluated and optimized prior to their use in devices. This thesis serves to shed a little bit of light on the interaction of a well-defined plasmonic particle with a conjugated polymer. The Langmuir-Blodgett technique serves as a critical tool in applying these colloidally produced nanoparticles to 2D arrays in practical applications. The observation of exciton-exciton annihilation at low-energy excitation is an entirely new phenomenon that was initiated by the plasmonic properties of metal nanoparticles. It is the hope of the author that the results contained herein can aide in the use of plasmonic nanoparticles in future devices.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed Mar. 2, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Chemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This work presents the syntheses, photophysical and photochemical characterization of arylthio zinc phthalocyanines and their gold nanoparticle conjugates. Spectroscopic and microscopic studies confirmed the formation of the phthalocyanine-gold nanoparticle conjugates which exhibited enhanced photophysicochemical properties in comparison to the phthalocyanines. The studies showed that the presence of gold nanoparticles significantly lowered fluorescence quantum yields and lifetimes. However, this interaction did not restrict the formation of excited singlet and triplet states and hence the formation of singlet oxygen required for photocatalysis. The conjugates showed significantly higher singlet oxygen quantum yields and therefore enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to the phthalocyanines. The zinc phthalocyanines and their gold nanoparticle conjugates were successfully incorporated into electrospun polymer fibers. Spectral characteristics of the functionalized electrospun fibers indicated that the phthalocyanines and phthalocyanine-gold nanoparticle conjugates were bound and their integrity was maintained within the polymeric fiber matrices. The photophysical and photochemical properties of the complexes were equally maintained within the electrospun fibers. The functionalized fibers were applied for the photoconversion of 4-chlorophenol and Orange G as model organic pollutants. / Microsoft� Word 2010 / Adobe Acrobat 9.53 Paper Capture Plug-in

The development of new multiphoton absorbing materials has attracted the attention of researchers for the last two decades. The advantages that multiphoton absorbing materials offer, versus their one-photon absorbing counterparts, rely on the nature of the nonlinearity of the absorption process, where two photons are absorbed simultaneously offering increased 3D resolution, deeper penetration, and less photobleaching and photodamage as a result of a more confined excitation. The applications of efficient two-photon absorbing materials have been extensively expanding into the fields of photodynamic therapy, microscopy, and optical data storage. One of the fields where an increased interest in multiphoton absorbing materials has been most evident is in bioimaging, in particular, when different cellular processes and organelles need to be studied by fluorescence microscopy. The goal of this research was to develop efficient two-photon absorption (2PA) compounds to be used in fluorescence bioimaging, meaning that such compounds need to posses good optical properties, such as high fluorescence quantum yield, 2PA cross section, and photostability. In the first chapter of this dissertation, we describe the synthesis and structural characterization of a new series of fluorescent donor–acceptor and acceptor-acceptor molecules based on the fluorenyl ring system that incorporated functionalities such as alkynes and thiophene rings, through efficient Pd-catalyzed Sonogashira and Stille coupling reactions, in order to increase the length of the conjugation in our systems. These new molecules proved to have high two-photon absorption (2PA), and the effect of these functionalities on their 2PA cross section values was evaluated. Finally, their use in two-photon fluorescence microscopy (2PFM) imaging was demonstrated. iii One of the limitations of the compounds described in Chapter 1 was their poor water solubility; this issue was addressed in Chapter 2. The use of micelles in drug delivery has been shown to be an area of increasing interest over the last decade. In the bioimaging field, it is key to have dye molecules with a high degree of water solubility to enable cells to uptake the dye. By enclosing a hydrophobic dye in Pluronic® F-127 micelles, we developed a system that facilitates the use of 2PA molecules (typically hydrophobic) in biological systems for nonlinear biophotonic applications, specifically to image the lysosomes. Furthermore, we report in this chapter the efficient microwave-assisted synthesis of the dye used in this study. In addition, linear photophysical and photochemical parameters, two-photon absorption (2PA), and superfluorescence properties of the dye studied in Chapter 2, were investigated in Chapter 3. The steady-state absorption, fluorescence, and excitation anisotropy spectra of this dye were measured in several organic solvents and aqueous media. In Chapter 4, we describe the preparation and the use of an efficient and novel twophoton absorbing fluorescent probe conjugated to an antibody that confers selectivity towards the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) in porcine aortic endothelial cells that express this receptor (PAE-KDR). It is known that this receptor is overexpressed in certain cancer processes. Thus, targeting of this receptor will be useful to image the tumor vasculature. It was observed that when the dye was incubated with cells that do not express the receptor, no effective binding between the bioconjugate and the cells took place, resulting in very poor, nonspecific fluorescence images by both one and two-photon excitation. On the other hand, when the dye was incubated with cells that expressed VEGFR-2, efficient imaging of the cells was obtained, even at very low concentrations (0.4 μM). Moreover, incubation of the bioconjugate iv with tissue facilitated successful imaging of vasculature in mouse embryonic tissue

The effect of a self-selected and semisynthetic diet on urinary conjugates levels was determined in 18 male adults (22-40 y). Urinary conjugates were also quantified to develop an index of detoxification using a multivariate approach. The four major urinary conjugates measured were glucuronides, sulfoconjugates, mercapturates, and amino acid conjugates. Subjects consumed a self-selected diet for three days and a semisynthetic diet for seven days. Mercapturates and amino acid conjugates were most affected by dietary change, excretion levels reduced by about 50% during the semisynthetic diet period (0.27±0.11 vs 0.14±0.02 mmol/24-h; 5.99 vs 3.03 mmol/24-h, respectively). Glucuronides were the least responsive to dietary change with no significant difference between the means of the two diet periods (self-selected diet 2.93±0.77; semisynthetic 3.21±0.29 mmol/24-h). Four methods for developing 'normal' ranges were presented: mean±SD; percentiles; principal component analysis (princomp); Mahalanobis distance (distquan). The four methods were compared. In summary, conjugate excretion levels were found to be sensitive to dietary changes, with some pathways more responsive than others. Also, the princomp and distquan methods were stressed because they are a multivariate approach which combine values for all three pathways and their interaction into a single value that would then be representative of an individual's total, or overall, detoxification level relative to the others in this group. / Ph. D.

This research serves as a meticulous examination into cross-conjugated materials and how alterations of the frontier molecular orbitals can be utilized for applications in "chemical tongue" organic sensing devices. With conjugated materials being used in the development of new sensory devices for detection of metals, bacteria, and chemical warfare agents, the field of organic sensing is growing faster than ever. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a precedence for the synthesis of new cross-conjugated compounds and outline potential applications of these materials as chemical sensors and molecular probes.

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition is an emerging novel therapeutic strategy in cancer therapy. HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) have shown ability to block angiogenesis and cell cycling, as well as initiate differentiation and apoptosis. In fact, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) is the first in the class of HDACi approved by the FDA for the treatment of cutaneous T cell lymphoma. On the other hand, there is a sustained interest in the use of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for various cancer diagnostic and therapeutic applications - bioimaging, drug delivery, and binary therapy techniques such as photodynamic and photothermal therapies. This interest in AuNPs is facilitated by favorable attributes such as ease of fabrication, bioconjugation and biocompatibility, and unique optical and electronic properties. However, HDACi- and AuNPs- based antitumor agents are plagued with problems common to all chemotherapeutic agents such as lack of selectivity, which often results in systemic toxicity. Therefore, availability of a methodology to selectively deliver AuNPs and HDACi to cancer cells will significantly improve their therapeutic indices and lead to the identification of novel agents for use in diagnostic imaging and targeted cancer therapy applications.

Un certain nombre de principes actifs sont responsables d'hypersensibilité allergique, en particulier les pénicillines et les sulfamides. Selon la théorie de l'haptène, ces principes actifs ne peuvent pas induire de réaction immunitaire par eux-mêmes, mais doivent être liés à une protéine. Ces protéines hapténisées par un antibiotique sont capturées puis digérées par des cellules présentatrices d'antigènes, qui présentent aux lymphocytes T des peptides issus de la protéine digérée. Les peptides hapténisés peuvent activer le système immunitaire des patients allergiques. Ce travail de thèse porte sur la sélection et la synthèse de peptides modifiés par les antibiotiques étudiés, dans le but de trouver ces peptides immunogènes. Pour réaliser cette étude, l'albumine du sérum humain (HSA) a été choisie comme protéine modèle. Son hapténisation a été étudiée pour trois principes actifs de forte prévalence allergique : la pénicilline G, l'amoxicilline et le sulfaméthoxazole. L'analyse par spectrométrie de masse des bioconjugués HSA-antibiotique a permis l'identification des acides aminés hapténisés pour la conception et la sélection par des méthodes in silico de peptides de 15-mers potentiellement immunogènes. La synthèse de ces peptides implique la préparation d'un monomère acide aminé-haptène stable pour une synthèse orientée de peptides d'enchaînements diversifiés. Pour les antibiotiques de la famille des pénicillines, cette synthèse s'est orchestrée autour d'une étape clé : l'ouverture du cycle β-lactame par une lysine. En ce qui concerne le sulfamide sulfaméthoxazole, la synthèse du monomère stable cystéine-sulfaméthoxazole a reposé sur une étape clé de couplage entre le sulfaméthoxazole et un acide cystéique. A partir du monomère lysine-pénicilline G, des peptides ont déjà été synthétisés et testés sur des lymphocytes T. L'effet immunogène et leur valorisation en tant qu'outils pour le diagnostic sont en cours d'évaluation. / Many drugs are responsible of allergic reactions, in particular penicillins and sulfonamides. As these antibiotics respond to the hapten theory, they cannot induce the immune system by themselves, but have to bind a protein. These haptenized proteins are detected then digested by antigen presenting cells into peptides which are presented to T cells. These haptenized peptides are responsible of the activation of the immune system in allergic patient. The aim of this study is to select and synthesize immunogenic peptides, modified by selected antibiotics. The human serum albumin (HSA) was chosen as a model protein. It haptenization was studied for three drugs with high allergic prevalence: benzylpenicillin, amoxicillin and sulfamethoxazole. Mass analysis of the resulting bioconjugates HSA-antibiotic allowed identification of haptenized amino-acid which were used to design and select through in silico methods potentially immunogenic 15-mers peptides. The synthesis of these peptides implies the preparation of stable amino-acid-hapten monomers for an oriented synthesis of diversified peptidic sequences. For penicillins, this synthesis was based on a key step: the opening of the penicillins β-lactam ring by a lysine. Regarding the sulfonamide sulfamethoxazole, the synthesis of a stable cysteine-sulfamethoxazole monomer was centered on a coupling key step between the sulfamethoxazole and a cysteic acid. From lysine-benzylpenicillin monomer, peptides have already been synthesized and tested over T cells. Their immunogenic effect and development as tools for diagnosis are being evaluated.

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