A polymer photodetector is fabricated using polythiophene with chiral alkyl side chains. The Cotton effect is observed in the CD spectrum of the photodetector, indicating an unequal absorbance of left- and right-handed circular polarized light (CPL). The photodetector is proven to be able to identify incident left- and right-handed CPL. Polymer photodetectors that are made from R- and S-limonene induced achiral polymers are fabricated. A “hot spin-coating” process is introduced to cast uniform limonene induced polymer films. As a result of chirality transfer, Cotton effects are also observed in these photodetectors’ CD spectra. A model is suggested to explain the chirality generation of the polythiophene with chiral alkyl side chains and limonene induced achiral polymers. / Thesis (Master, Chemistry) -- Queen's University, 2014-03-25 14:37:23.168

En el curso de esta Tesis Doctoral, se sintetizaron librerías de (1,2)-diaminas enantiopuras y 2,2’-bifenoles pro-quirales. La transferencia de quiralidad desde la diamina al bifenol, mediante puentes de hidrógeno o coordinación a un metal (ZnII, CuII), fue demostrada por dicroísmo circular (DC). El comportamiento en disolución de los complejos supramoleculares (usando puentes de hidrógeno), así como sus constantes de asociación, fue estudiado mediante valoraciones de RMN, UV-vis y ITC. La determinación de las configuraciones absolutas de los complejos de ZnII se consiguió mediante la resolución de las estructuras de rayos-X y los estudios de DC, tanto a un nivel teórico como experimental. Un nuevo ligando fosforado, potencialmente catalítico, fue preparado a partir de 2,2’-bifenol, mostrando el camino para el desarrollo de nuevos catalizadores supramoleculares. / During the course of the thesis libraries of chiral (1,2)-diamines and prochiral 2,2’-biphenol derivatives were synthesised. The transfer of chirality from the diamine to the biphenol moiety mediated either by hydrogen bonding or coordination to a metal centre (ZnII, CuII) was demonstrated by CD (circular dicroism). The behaviour in solution of the hydrogen bonded complexes was investigated by NMR spectroscopy, UV-vis and ITC titrations (determination of association constants. The determination of absolute configurations of the ZnII complexes was achieved by X-ray structure determination and CD analyses both on the experimental and theoretical level. Last but not least, a new potentially catalytic phosphane ligand was derived from a dynamically racemic 2,2’-biphenol derivative.

The Whelk-O1 chiral stationary phase is widely used in liquid and supercritical chromatography for the separation of enantiomers. The enantioselective mechanism of the Whelk-O1 chiral stationary phase is the main focus of this thesis. Semi-flexible models are developed based on ab initio calculations for the Whelk-O1 selector and a series of chiral analytes. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations are then applied to study the solvation, selectivity and in silico optimization of the chiral stationary phase. The solvation of the Whelk-O1 chiral stationary phase has been explored in a normal phase n-hexane/2-propanol solvent, a reversed phase water/methanol solvent, and a supercritical CO2/methanol solvent. We found that, in all three solvents, the Whelk-O1 selectors are open to the bulk, indicating readiness for docking of analyte. Significant solvent partitioning at the interfaces was noticed, which generates a polarity gradient between the stationary phase and the bulk, and may encourage a high analyte concentration at the interface. Hydrogen bonding activities on the amide hydrogen, amide oxygen, and nitro oxygen of the Whelk selector have also been analyzed. The selectivity of the Whelk selector was studied by molecular dynamics simulations of analyte docking on the chiral stationary phase. The elution orders and the separation factors for a series of analytes were predicted successfully. We found that hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking interactions are essential for the enantioselectivity as they are strong and specific, and they hold analytes to the cleft region of the Whelk selector. Other interactions, both stabilizing interactions such as the CH-π interaction and the edge-to-face π-π interaction, and destabilizing interactions such as steric hindrance and unfavorable conformational changes also contribute to the enantioselectivity. We identified a dominant docking arrangement for the most retained enantiomers. Other docking arrangements were found to be more frequent for the least retained enantiomers and these involve interactions with alternative selector sites. Based on the identified enantioselective mechanism obtained from the study, an optimization of the Whelk-O1 chiral stationary phase was undertaken and in silico evaluation of the modified chiral stationary phases was carried out. It was demonstrated that restriction of the alternative docking arrangements for the least retained enantiomers could possibly improve the enantioselectivity of the chiral stationary phase. / Thesis (Ph.D, Chemistry) -- Queen's University, 2008-10-08 11:54:20.249

Biocatalysts are increasingly prevalent in the large-scale synthesis of enantiomerically pure compounds. However, many sought-after reactions lack a suitable enzymatic production route. This work describes the development of a novel amine dehydrogenase through the application of directed evolution altering the substrate specificity of an existing leucine dehydrogenase scaffold. Eleven rounds of directed evolution completely altered the enzyme’s specificity and successfully created amination activity. The resulting amine dehydrogenase asymmetrically catalyzes methyl isobutyl ketone and free ammonia to 1, 3-dimethyl butyl amine. The enantioselectivity of the wild-type enzyme was maintained despite the drastic changes to the binding pocket and yielded (R)-1,3-DMBA with nearly complete conversion making it an attractive catalyst in the synthesis of chiral amines. This was the first example of a cofactor-dependent amine dehydrogenase capable of selectively synthesizing chiral amines from a prochiral ketone and free ammonia. Additionally, knowledge gained altering the specificity of the leucine dehydrogenase scaffold was applied to an analogous phenylalanine dehydrogenase scaffold allowing for rapid evolution of novel activity. A single mutational library resulted in a second amine dehydrogenase with enhanced activity toward significantly different substrates, while maintaining comparable conversion and enantioselectivity. These two scaffolds provide examples of the broad applicability of the identified mutations in creating amine dehydrogenase activity.

A new class of oxazolidinone chiral auxiliary has been synthesized from various α-amino acids, incorporating a perfluoroalkyl functional chain as a soluble support. This feature allows the chiral auxiliaries to be employed under standard solution-phase reaction conditions, and rapidly purified from crude mixtures using fluorous solid phase extraction (FSPE). Our investigation of these new materials has been divided into two main sections. To obtain the chiral auxiliaries in multi-gram quantities a synthetic protocol was designed, where efficiency and reproducibility were the primary objectives. Meeting these goals required an extensive study of the reactivity of perfluoroalkyl nucleophiles. This study identified a versatile and scalable protocol for the perfluoroalkylation of the required amino acid starting materials. These results have allowed us to design a general, five-step synthetic pathway to create the fluorous chiral auxiliaries quickly and effectively. The new auxiliaries were then applied in several model reactions, specifically chosen to examine the reactivity and behavior of these compounds. In particular, the auxiliaries were tested for their stereoselectivity, recyclability, and ease of purification, in a series of Aldol reactions, 1,3 dipolar cycloadditions, and radical conjugate additions. This set of model reactions, combined with the facile and efficient synthesis clearly demonstrates that these new chiral auxiliaries are useful alternatives to the non-fluorous oxazolidinone chiral auxiliaries currently employed in stoichiometric asymmetric syntheses.

Chiral structure formation is ubiquitous in surface self-assembly. Molecules that do not undergo chiral recognition in solution or fluid phases can do so when their configurational freedom is restricted in the two-dimensional field of a substrate. The process holds promise in the manufacture of functional materials for chiral catalysis, sensing or nonlinear optics. In this thesis, we investigate the influence of surface attraction and geometry on adsorption-induced chiral separation in several model molecules, as well as the relationships between molecular features, specifically molecular geometry and charge distribution, and chiral recognition at surface self-assembly. Simple model molecules embody the fundamental interactions involved in supramolecular structure formation in experimental systems, and allow the in-depth investigation of key parameters. Chiral pattern formation at the surface self-assembly is a complex problem, even in cases where very small organic molecules are considered. Even though the adsorption behaviour of small organic molecules on gold surfaces has been investigated extensively so far experimentally and theoretically, much of their chiral behaviour is yet to be understood at a molecular level. Theoretical investigations of chiral self-assembly of sulfur containing amino acids onto achiral and chiral gold surfaces is also presented in this thesis. By understanding chiral self-assembly on solid surfaces, one may control and direct it towards creating materials with desired functionality. / Graduate / 0494 / tp.popa@gmail.com

A new class of oxazolidinone chiral auxiliary has been synthesized from various α-amino acids, incorporating a perfluoroalkyl functional chain as a soluble support. This feature allows the chiral auxiliaries to be employed under standard solution-phase reaction conditions, and rapidly purified from crude mixtures using fluorous solid phase extraction (FSPE). Our investigation of these new materials has been divided into two main sections. To obtain the chiral auxiliaries in multi-gram quantities a synthetic protocol was designed, where efficiency and reproducibility were the primary objectives. Meeting these goals required an extensive study of the reactivity of perfluoroalkyl nucleophiles. This study identified a versatile and scalable protocol for the perfluoroalkylation of the required amino acid starting materials. These results have allowed us to design a general, five-step synthetic pathway to create the fluorous chiral auxiliaries quickly and effectively. The new auxiliaries were then applied in several model reactions, specifically chosen to examine the reactivity and behavior of these compounds. In particular, the auxiliaries were tested for their stereoselectivity, recyclability, and ease of purification, in a series of Aldol reactions, 1,3 dipolar cycloadditions, and radical conjugate additions. This set of model reactions, combined with the facile and efficient synthesis clearly demonstrates that these new chiral auxiliaries are useful alternatives to the non-fluorous oxazolidinone chiral auxiliaries currently employed in stoichiometric asymmetric syntheses.

Chiral aromatic nitrogen heterocycles are finding many applications in asymmetric organic synthesis, particularly as ligands in the preparation of chiral metal complexes. Since camphor-based chiral auxiliaries are known to be especially effective, a number of pyridines fused to the camphor skeleton have been reported. It is well known that nicotinic acid and its derivatives exhibiting qualitatively the biological activity of nicotinamide, which acts as an electron acceptor in many biological redox reactions. In connection to our works, we attempted to develop short and convenient way to prepare various camphorderived chiral pyridine or nicotinic acid derivatives. Here we report our results obtained from the annulation of (+)-&amp / #946 / -hydroxymethylenecamphor as the feasible chiral pool with various enamines derived from active methylene compounds. (+)-&amp / #946 / -Hydroxymethylenecamphor prepared from cheap and easily available natural (+)-camphor and enamines were transformed into chiral camphor-based pyridine derivatives via tandem condensation reaction in good yields.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves: [85]-87)

A doença de Alzheimer (DA) é uma doença neurodegenerativa que causa perda progressiva e irreversível das funções cerebrais, atualmente não tem cura e não existe um tratamento específico eficaz. Uma estratégia para o tratamento paliativo é restaurar o neurotransmissor acetilcolina utilizando fármacos inibidores das enzimas colinesterase (ChEI), nesse contexto a tacrina foi o primeiro fármaco aprovado para o tratamento da DA. Há mais de uma década os análogos dímeros da tacrina, conhecidos como bis-tacrina, mostraram maior eficiência na inibição da enzima acetilcolinesterase (AChE) comparativamente ao fármaco tacrina e seus análogos, devido à ação simultânea em dois sítios da enzima, catalítico e periférico. Desde então, vários compostos dímeros e híbridos contendo o núcleo tacrina tem sido sintetizados e testados como ChEI. Neste trabalho realizou-se a síntese de dímeros quirais do tipo bis-tacrina, onde dois núcleos da tacrina com substituintes quirais estão conectados por uma cadeia espaçadora de carbonos metilênicos. A reação de condensação de Friedlander foi a estratégia adotada para a obtenção do núcleo tacrina, onde uma ciclocetona quiral de origem terpênica foi condensada com um ácido o-aminobenzóico na presença de POCl3, formando os intermediários do tipo 9-cloroacridinas quirais. As ciclocetonas quirais foram sintetizadas a partir da reação de retro-aldol do monoterpeno natural pulegona, comercialmente disponível nas formas (R)-(+)- e (S)-(-). A preparação dos homodímeros envolveu a reação de substituição nucleofílica aromática (SNAr) entre as 9-cloroacridinas e a 1,7-heptanodiamina, que contém a cadeia alquílica espaçadora. A síntese dos heterodímeros necessitou a preparação dos precursores 9-(1,7-diaminoeptil)-1,2,3,4-tetraidroacridina, contendo o núcleo tacrina e o grupo amino separados pela cadeia espaçadora, para posterior reação de SNAr com as 9-cloroacridinas. Os produtos obtidos neste trabalho foram purificados por cromatografia em coluna e caracterizados por espectroscopia de ressonância magnética nuclear (RMN) de 1H e 13C, no infravermelho (IV), atividade óptica e medidas de ponto de fusão. As análises de atividade óptica mostraram que a quiralidade foi mantida nos intermediários e nos produtos finais sintetizados. Foram realizados ensaios biológicos de inibição das enzimas AChE e BuChE com os compostos quirais disponíveis, e os dímeros da série (R) mostraram ser ativos como inibidores das enzimas. / Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder which causes progressive and irreversible loss of brain functions and currently has no cure and no effective specific treatment. A strategy for palliative treatment of AD is the restoration of neurotransmitter acetylcholine using drugs cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEI) and tacrine was the first drug approved for the treatment of AD. About fifteen years ago, bis(n)-tacrine analogues linked by an alkylene chain were prepared, and it was proved that these dimeric molecules of tacrine offered a much stronger potency and selectivity toward AChE. Bis(7)-tacrine simultaneously binds at both the CAS and the PAS sites and provides a higher selectivity towards AChE over BuChE.. Since then, several dimmers and hybrid compounds containing the nucleus tacrine, have been synthesized and tested as cholinesterase inhibitors. In this work were carried out the syntheses of chiral homodimers and heterodimers of bis-tacrine type, where two nucleus of tacrine with chiral substituents were connected by an alkyl chain as spacer. The Friedländer condensation reaction was performed to obtain the tacrine nucleus, the cycloketone from a chiral terpene source was condensed with an o-aminobenzoic acid in the presence of POCl3, forming 9-chloroacridine intermediates. The chiral cycloketone were obtained from natural monoterpene pulegone, commercially available in (R)-(+)- and (S)-(-) enantiomers. The preparation of homodimers involved the nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) reaction between 9-chloroacridines and 1,7-diaminoheptane, which contains the spacer alkyl chain. The synthesis of heterodimers required the preparation of precursor 9-(1,7-diaminoheptyl)-1,2,3,4-tetraydroacridine, containing tacrine nucleus and the amino group separated by spacer chain, for subsequent SNAr reaction with the 9-chloroacridines. The products obtained in this work were purified by column chromatography and characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of 1H and 13C, infrared spectroscopy (IR), optical activity and melting point measurements. The analysis of optical activity showed that the chirality was maintained in the intermediate and final products synthesized. Biological assays of inhibition of AChE and BuChE enzymes were performed with chiral compounds. The dimers of (R)-series were active as cholinesterase inhibitors.