Little previous research has been conducted concerning consumer shopping behaviors when dealing with stores that have both physical and online outlets where products can be browsed or bought, also known as "click and brick" retailers. This exploratory study seeks to determine if distinct "click and brick" consumer typologies can be formed according to consumers' preferred method of shopping. This study also examines the relationships between consumer's needs for convenience, product tangibility, social interaction and levels of trust and their preferred method of "click and brick" shopping. While significant differences were found between shopping preferences, results indicated that consumer preference significantly differs depending on the store or product type implying that an overall "click and brick" consumer typology cannot be formed. Also, results indicate that the two shopping preferences that significantly differ the most depending on motivations are still "browse and buy in store" and "browse and buy online," indicating that consumers do not heavily utilize multichannel shopping methods for purchases. / text

Graft polymers with a dendritic architecture (arborescent polymers) were synthesized by ???click???, anionic, and cationic grafting. Arborescent polystyrene and polybutadiene systems were synthesized by ???click??? coupling using alkyne and azide functional groups, one of which was introduced randomly on the polymer substrate, while the other functionality was located at one end of the polymer serving as side chains. The two possible combinations of randomly and end-functionalized components were investigated for both polymer systems, but the best method for polystyrene involved side chains with an azide end group and randomly acetylenated substrates; for polybutadiene, acetylene-terminated side chains and randomly azidated substrates were preferred. The end-functionalized polymers were derived from a bifunctional initiator to introduce a protected hydroxyl group, which was converted into either an azide or an acetylene functionality. Coupling of the end-functionalized side chains with the substrate polymer serving as backbone yielded a comb-branched (or G0 arborescent) polymer. Further cycles of substrate functionalization and grafting led to the subsequent (G1 and G2) generations of arborescent polymers. Linear and branched (G0 and G1) hydroxylated polystyrene derivatives, some of which served as intermediates in the synthesis of the randomly functionalized ???click??? grafting substrates, were also explored as macroinitiators for the cationic polymerization of ethyl vinyl ether. The substrates functionalized with either secondary or tertiary alcohol groups yielded the desired arborescent polystyrene-graft-poly(ethyl vinyl ether) copolymers, without formation of linear contaminant. Arborescent polybutadiene of generations G1 and G2, with different side chain molecular weights, were also synthesized by anionic coupling of living polybutadienyllithium side chains with substrates functionalized with chlorosilane groups for comparison with the ???click??? methodology.

Pt(II) based anticancer drugs—cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin—are widely used in the treatment of a variety of cancers. Unfortunately, the clinical efficacy of these drugs is currently hindered by the development of undesirable side effects and resistance during treatment. The molecular mechanisms underlying these effects are still unclear. For decades, research has focused on DNA as the main cellular target of Pt(II) compounds. However, there is increasing interest in proteins as alternative targets of Pt(II) and contributors to cytotoxic and resistance mechanisms of cisplatin. In this work, I utilize Pt(II) compounds that have been functionalized to participate in the azide-alkyne cycloaddition ‘click’ reaction to study protein targets of platinum reagents. First, I describe the use of an azide-modified Pt(II) compound to fluorescently label and isolate Pt(II)-bound bovine serum albumin in vitro. Additionally, we discover that Pt(II) compounds form monofunctional adducts on BSA that can crosslink to DNA oligonucleotides. I then use the click-functionalized Pt(II) compound, azidoplatin, to enrich for Pt(II)-bound proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a biotin-streptavidin pull-down. I identified 152 proteins that are significantly enriched in AzPt-treated samples by LC-MS/MS analysis. A subset of these proteins are involved in proteostasis and ER stress, which I confirm is induced in both AzPt- and cisplatin-treated yeast. Of interest was the identification of the ER protein folding chaperone protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), which I observe is inhibited by Pt(II) binding in vitro. Finally, I investigate PDI activity in human cancer cell lines HeLa and MDA-MB-468 following treatment with Pt(II) compounds. Extracts from platinum-treated MDA-MB-468 cells show significant PDI inhibition at low concentrations of Pt(II), and these cells appear to have constitutive activation of the unfolded protein response. PDI activity in extracts from platinum-treated HeLa cells is inhibited only at high concentrations of Pt(II), and HeLa cells do not show significant XBP1 mRNA splicing during Pt(II) treatment. Additionally, MDA-MB-468 cells are nearly three times as sensitive to Pt(II) compounds than HeLa cells. From these data, I hypothesize that basal ER stress increases sensitivity to PDI inhibition by Pt(II) binding and that this interaction enhances Pt(II)-induced cell death. / 10000-01-01

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:58:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo3375_1.pdf: 2273716 bytes, checksum: f24a2e926d58fe82c79cef46471ae255 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / O crescimento da indústria da anúncios online tem criado diversas novas oportunidades em termos de negócios na Internet, tais como conhecimento de marca e comércio online. Neste ambiente de negócio, métricas como visualizações de página, submissões de formulários, cliques, downloads e compras têm o objetivo de originar transações financeiras entre anunciantes, redes de anúncios e publicadores de anúncios. Uma vez que estas ações baseadas na web possuem impacto financeiro, criminosos se sentiram motivados a buscarem a obtenção de vantagens por meio da utilização destas novas oportunidades para gerar divisas de maneira ilícita e ilegítima, através da realização de fraudes contra cada um destes participantes. Esta pesquisa discute diversas formas de anúncios, fraudes e formas para combater e prevenir estas fraudes existentes no mercado de anúncios online, além de propor uma nova abordagem para combater o problema da click fraud em sistemas de pagamento por clique (PPC). Ao invés de adotar a abordagem comum de filtrar cliques fraudulentos após a ocorrência dos mesmos, esta pesquisa considera uma abordagem de prevenção, que aceita apenas cliques legítimos através de um processo de validação de cliques em duas camadas, denominada abordagem C2FAC2A. A primeira camada de verificação ocorre através da realização de um teste do tipo CAPTCHA, que distingue usuários reais de programas automatizados e, a segunda, através da autenticação de clientes por meio da verificação da legitimidade dos usuários através da utilização de cache cookies

The immobilization of surface-modified polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers on the cell surface introduces a novel approach for efficient and specific cellular uptake of therapeutic-carrying nanoparticles. This cell surface-nanoparticle hybridization event takes place via bioorthogonal copper-free click chemistry between a dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) group on the dendrimer surface and azide-capped glycans expressed on the cell membrane through metabolic incorporation of azido sugars. This particular cell-nanoparticle hybridization method can be exploited to deliver a variety of therapeutic, genetic or fluorescent payloads directly into cells. Here, this method was employed to deliver plasmid DNA, siRNA and the hydrophobic anticancer drug Camptothecin (CPT) to enhance transfection and therapeutic efficacy. Native, acetylated, and PEGylated generation 4 (G4) PAMAM dendrimers were conjugated with DBCO. When introduced to azide expressing NIH3T3 fibroblasts and HN12 cancer cells, successful surface hybridization was achieved. The physiochemical properties of PAMAM dendrimers allowed for successful hydrophobic drug encapsulation and electrostatic nucleic acid condensation.

Chemical transformations that join two molecular components together rapidly while remaining highly efficient and selective are valued for their elegant simplicity and effectiveness in a myriad of applications. By applying the principles of ‘click’ chemistry to biology, information about molecular interactions in vivo can therefore be gained from minimally perturbing bioorthogonal coupling reactions. Developing bioorthogonal ‘click’ reactions – reactions that do not cross-react with biological components – provides new ways to accurately study biological systems at the molecular level. This thesis describes the development of such tools. Strain-promoted alkyne-nitrone cycloadditions (SPANC) represent rapid, efficient, selective, and tunable conjugation strategies that are applicable to biomolecular labelling experiments. Herein, SPANC reactions with bicyclo[6.1.0]nonyne are examined using physical organic methods to determine the stereoelectronic factors governing SPANC reactivity. Second-order rate constants (k2) of up to 1.49 M-1s-1 were measured and the resulting cycloadditions are applied to the design and synthesis of nitrone-based molecular probes. The first example of SPANC-mediated metabolic labelling in live-cell bacteria is reported, establishing SPANC as an efficient and bioorthogonal metabolic labelling strategy for cellular labelling.

In der Kontrolle von viralen oder bakteriellen Infektionen spielen Sphingolipide eine essentielle Rolle[335-336], weshalb sich inzwischen die Forschung vermehrt an Sphingolipiden und -analoga als Wirkstoffen gegen die verschiedensten Erreger beschäftigt.[9] Dabei finden in der Synthese und Identifikation potentieller Wirkstoffe auch clickchemiebasierte Ansätze Anwendung.[224] Allerdings ist die Wirkweise von sphingolipidbasierten Pharmaka auch in viraler und mikrobieller Pathogenese bisher ungeklärt. Mit der Entdeckung der CuAAC[112-113] sowie deren modernen Varianten und Alternativen, die gemeinsam unter dem Begriff Clickchemie zusammengefasst werden, ist es möglich, die strukturellen Änderungen von Biomolekülen klein zu halten und durch spätere Konjugation mit Farbstoffen Fluoreszenspektroskopie zu ermöglichen.[339-340] Während in den letzten Jahren die Clickchemie breite Anwendung zur Modifikation von Proteinen[130], Kohlenhydraten[341] und DNA[340] gefunden hat blieben Lipide lange unbeachtet[342], was vor allem auch für Sphingolipide gilt. In dieser Arbeit werden bioorthogonal funktionalisierte Sphingolipide und -analoga vorgestellt, um die Vielseitigkeit der Clickchemie auf das Feld der Sphingolipide zu übertragen. Die clickfähigen Lipidanaloga ermöglichen detaillierte Einblicke in die dynamische Organisation von Sphingolipiden bei Infektionsprozessen und ihr Einsatz als therapeutische Wirkstoffe oder zur Generierung von antibakteriellen Oberflächenbeschichtungen wurden untersucht. Die dargestellten azidmodifizierten Sphingolipide und –analoga konnten in Zusammenarbeit mit Kooperationspartnern, bezüglich ihrer Verwendung in Visualisierungsexperimenten und antibakteriellen Eigenschaften untersucht werden. Die Ceramidderivate konnten genutzt werden, um den Einfluss von Kettenlänge und Position des Azides der acylierten Säure auf die in vivo-Konjugation mit dem Fluoreszenzfarbstoff DBCO-Sulfo-Cy5 in Jurkatzellen genauer zu untersuchen.[211] Auch konnten azidfunktionalisierte Ceramide auf ihre Eignung zur Visualisierung von Ceramiddynamiken während T-Stimulation untersucht werden.[205] In diesem Zusammenhang sind visualisierbare Ceramide von besonderer Bedeutung, da die T-Zellstimulation die ASM-Aktivierung zur Folge hat, die wiederum Ceramide freisetzt. Mit dem azidmodifizierten Phytosphingosinderivat gelang es erstmals ein azidmodifiziertes Sphingolipid nach Inkubation von Arabidopsis thaliana Setzlingen mittels CuAAC mit einem Fluoreszenzfarbstoff zu konjugieren.[258] Des Weiteren konnten die azidfunktionalisierten N-Oleoylserinole in verschiedenen Zelltypten erfolgreich eingebaut und selektiv mit Fluoreszenzfarbstoff visualisiert werden. Kofärbungen mit GFP-PKCζ und Antikörpermarkierungen von Ceramid sowie PKCζ zeigten, dass es sich bei den Enantiomeren um ceramidimitierende Lipidanaloga handelt. Somit eignen sich diese N-Oleoylserinolanaloga, um die Interaktion von Ceramiden mit der Proteinkinase Cζ zu untersuchen. Da viele natürliche Sphingolipide antibakterielle Eigenschaften aufweisen, konnte in Kooperation mit Jérôme Becam der Einsatz azidmodifizierter Ceramide als Wirkstoff gegen Neisseria meningitidis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae sowie Escherichia coli und Staphylococcus aureus untersucht werden. ωN3-C6-Cer zeigt gute bakterizide Eigenschaften gegen Neisseria meningitidis und Neisseria gonorrhoeae, ohne dabei toxisch gegenüber den Wirtszellen zu sein. Die Ceramidanaloga αN3-C6-Cer, αN3-C16-Cer und ωN3-C16-Cer weisen keine antibakteriellen Eigenschaften auf, aber sie wurden effizient in die Membran der Neisseriae eingebaut und konnten ebenfalls erfolgreich bioorthogonal markiert werden. Des Weiteren zeigten hochauflösende dSTORM-Aufnahmen der Bakterien, im Gegensatz zu Humanzellen, eine homologe Verteilung der konjugierten Ceramide. Da Ceramide eine wichtige Rolle in der Infektionsbekämpfung spielen, sind die in dieser Arbeit synthetisierten azidmodifizierten Ceramide wertvolle Werkzeuge, um die Interaktion von Bakterien mit Humanzellen zu untersuchen. Außerdem konnte im Rahmen dieser Arbeit erfolgreich eine innovative Methode entwickelt werden, um alkinpräsentierende Linker auf die Oberfläche von Nunc Covalink 96 Microtiterplatten kovalent zu binden und die Alkine konnten anschließend mittels CuAAC mit den in dieser Arbeit synthetisierten azidfunktionalisierten Lipiden zu konjugiert werden. Ziel der Methode war es potentielle Moleküle für bakterizide Oberflächenmodifikationen zu identifizieren. Mittels solcher Oberflächenmodifikationen soll die Biofilmbildung in Endotrachealtuben verhindert, und damit die Entstehung von beatmungsassozierten Pneumonien unterbunden werden. Die lipidmodifizierten Microtiterplatten sollen zukünftig auch genutzt werden, um sphingolpidaffine Proteine aus Zelllysaten zu identifizieren. / Sphingolipids play an essential role in the control of viral and bacterial infections[335-336], therefore sphingolipids and analogues shift into the focus of pharmaceutical research as active ingredients against various pathogens.[9] Also click chemistry is used for synthesis and screening of potential drugs.[224] The mode of action of sphingolipid based pharmaceuticals in viral and microbial pathogenesis is not yet fully understood. By using CuAAC[112-113] and their modern variants and alternatives – summarized in the term click chemistry – it is possible to minimise the structural alterations of biomolecules and still use them in fluorescence spectroscopy after labeling. [339-340] While modification of proteins[130], carbohydrates[341] and DNA[340] via click chemistry has been widely used in recent years, lipids have remained unaffected for a long time, especially sphingolipids.[342] In this Work biorthogonal functionalised sphingolipids and analogues are presented, that transfer the versatility of the click chemistry to the field of sphingolipids. Furthermore, the clickable lipid analogues allow a detailed view into the dynamic organisation of sphingolipids in infection processes and in addition their use as therapeutic agents or for the generation of antibacterial surface coatings were investigated. The synthesized azide modified sphingolipids and analogues were evaluated for the use in visualisation experiments and their antibacterial properties were evaluated within several cooperation projects. The ceramide derivatives were used to evaluate the influence of acylated chain length and azide position in regard to in vivo labeling with the fluorescence dye DBCO-Sulfo-Cy5 in jurkat cells.[211] Furthermore, ceramide dynamics during T-cell stimulation were investigated by labeling azide functionalised ceramides.[205] In this context visualisable ceramides are of particular interest due T-cell stimulation results in ASM-activation, which again releases ceramides. With the azide modified phytosphingosine derivative, an azide modified sphingolipid was labelled via CuAAC after incubation of arabidoopsis thailana seedlings for the first time[258] Furthermore, azide functionalised N-Oleoyl serinols were successfully incorporated within different cell types and selectively visualised by labelling. Colocalization studies with GFP-PKCζ and anti body labeling of ceramide as well as PKCζ proved to be ceramide mimicking lipid analogues Many natural sphingolipids show antibacterial behaviour, therefore the use of azide modified ceramides as active ingredients against Neisseria meningitidis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae sowie Escherichia coli und Staphylococcus aureus were investigated in cooperation with Jérôme Becam ωN3-C6-Cer shows good bactericidal properties against Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae without being toxic against host cells. The ceramide analogues αN3-C6-Cer, αN3-C16-Cer and ωN3-C16-Cer show no antibacterial properties, but they were also efficiently incorporated into the membrane of Neisseriae and can be used biorthogonal labelling. Furthermore, in contrast to human cells high resolution dSTORM-images show an evenly distribution of labelled ceramides in bacteria cells. Since ceramides play an important role in the fight against infections the ceramides synthesised in this work are valuable tools to investigate the interaction of bacteria with human cells. Also an innovative method was established within this thesis to modify the surface of Nunc Covalink 96 Wellplates with alkyne presenting linkers followed by the conjugation of the azide modified lipids presented in this work via CuAAC. This method is intended to be used for screening of potential molecules for antibacterial surface modifications. In the future this kind of surface modifications are expected to prevent the biofilm formation in endotracheal tubes and prohibit the formation of ventilator-associated pneumonia. In Addition the lipid modified microtiter plates are also intended to be used to identify sphingolipid affine proteins from cell lysate.

Durch stetige Entwicklung der Mikroskopiemethoden in den letzten Jahrzehnten ist es nun möglich Strukturen und Abläufe in biologischen Systemen detaillierter darzustellen als mit der von Abbe entdeckten maximalen Auflösungsgrenze. Oft werden dabei Fluoreszenzmarker benutzt, welche die unsichtbare Welt der Mikrobiologie und deren biochemische Prozesse illuminieren. Diese werden entweder durch Expression, wie z.B. das grün fluoreszierende Protein (GFP), in das zu untersuchende Objekt eingebracht oder durch klassische Markierungsmethoden mithilfe von fluoreszierenden Immunkonjugaten installiert. Jedoch gewinnt eine alternative Strategie, die von der interdisziplinären Zusammenarbeit zwischen Chemikern, Physikern und Biologen profitiert, immer mehr an Bedeutung – die bioorthogonale Click-Chemie. Sie ermöglicht eine effiziente Fluoreszenzmarkierung der biologischen Strukturen unter minimalem Eingriff in die Abläufe der Zelle. Dazu müssen allerdings sowohl Farbstoffe als auch die biologisch aktiven Substanzen chemisch modifiziert werden, da nur dadurch die Bioorthogonalität gewährleistet werden kann. Mittlerweile existiert eine breite Palette an fluoreszierenden Farbstoffen, die das komplette sichtbare Spektrum abdecken und sich für diverse Mikroskopiemethoden eignen. Allerdings gibt es zwei Farbstoffklassen, die sich aus der gesamten Fülle abheben und sich für hochauflösende bildgebende Experimente auf Einzelmolekülebene eignen. Zum einen ist es die Farbstofffamilie der Cyanine und insbesondere der wasserlöslichen Pentamethincyanine, die reversibel und kontrolliert zum Photoschalten animiert werden können und in der stochastisch optischen Rekonstruktionsmikroskopie Anwendung finden. Zum anderen ist es die Gruppe, der Rhodamine und Fluoresceine, die zu Xanthenfarbstoffen gehören und sich durch gute photophysikalische Eigenschaften auszeichnen. Trotz der Beliebtheit stellt ihre Darstellung immer noch eine Herausforderung dar und limitiert deren Einsatz. Deshalb war es notwendig im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit Möglichkeiten zur Syntheseoptimierung beider Farbstoffklassen zu finden, damit diese im Folgenden weiterentwickelt und an die biologische Fragestellung angepasst werden können. Die Arbeit unterteilt sich deshalb in Relation an die oben genannten Farbstoffklassen in zwei Bereiche. Im ersten Teil wurden Projekte basierend auf den wasserlöslichen Pentamethincyaninen behandelt. Im zweiten Teil beschäftigte sich die Arbeit mit Projekten, die auf Xanthen-Farbstoffen aufbauen. / Due to steady development in microscopy methods during the last decades its now possible to visualize biological structures in more detail than Abbes low would allow. Frequently fluorescence labeling is used to illuminate the world of microbiology and its processes. There are two classical methods to introduce fluorescent markers to the target of interest. The first way is to use the expression of fluorescent proteins like GFP (green fluorescent protein). The second one is the application of fluorescent immunoconjugates. However, an alternative strategy that benefits from the interdisciplinary cooperation between chemists, physicists and biologists is becoming increasingly important – bioorthogonal click chemistry. It enables efficient fluorescent labelling of biological structures with minimal influence in cell processes. But this requires chemical modification of both dyes and the biologically active substances, as this is the only way to guarantee bioorthogonal click reactions. In the meantime, a wide range of fluorescent dyes is available that cover the entire visible spectrum and are suitable for various microscopy methods. However, there are two classes of dyes that stand out from the rest and are suitable for high-resolution imaging experiments at the single molecule level. On the one hand, there is the dye family of cyanines and in particular the water-soluble pentamethine cyanines, which can be reversibly and in a controlled manner animated to photoswitch. Therefore, they are used in stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy like dStorm. On the other hand, there is the group of rhodamines and fluoresceins, which belong to xanthene dyes and are characterized by good photophysical properties. Despite their popularity, their synthesis still poses a challenge and limits their use. Therefore, it was necessary to find ways to optimize the synthesis of both dye classes within the scope of the present work, so that they can be further developed and adapted to the biological question. This thesis is therefore divided into two parts in relation to the two above mentioned dye classes. In the first part three projects based on the water-soluble pentamethine cyanines were addressed. In the second part the work dealt with projects based on the HMSiR-dyes.

In the context of this work, important trends in the influence of the metal center, coligand, and alkyne reaction partner on the iClick reaction of square-planar palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes with a N^N^N, C^N^N, or S^N^N coordination sphere and a number of internal as well as terminal alkynes were elaborated. Preliminary bioactivity studies on a human cancer cell line gave low micromolar EC50 values, for the most promising compound comparable to cisplatin serving as a reference drug. The further application of the iClick reaction to bioconjugation will be explored in future work. / Insgesamt konnten im Rahmen dieser Arbeit systematische Einflüsse des Metallzentrums, des Coliganden und des Alkins auf die Geschwindigkeit der iClick-Reaktion von quadratisch-planaren Palladium(II)- und Platin(II)-Azid-Komplexen mit internen und terminalen Alkinen identifiziert werden. So reagiert auch in dieser Serie das 4d-Element schneller als das entsprechend 5d-Metall, interne Alkinen mit elektronenarmen Substituenten führen zu einer höheren Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit als terminale Alkine und Geschwindigkeitskonstante steigt für tridentate Chelatliganden in der Reihenfolge N^N^N < S^N^N < C^N^N an. Erste orientierende biologische Studien an menschlichen Tumorzellen ergaben vielversprechende EC50-Werte im unteren mikromolaren Bereich. Das Potential dieser Verbindungen und der iClick-Reaktion allgemein für die Biokonjugation und tiefgehende Untersuchungen des Mechanismus der Antitumor-Wirkung sollte in zukünftigen Studien noch weiter ausgedehnt werden.

Yes / We report a simple temperature-responsive bioconjugate system comprising superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) decorated with poly[(oligo ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate] (PEGMA) polymers. We used amber suppression to site-specifically incorporate the non-canonical azide-functional amino acid p-azidophenylalanine (pAzF) into sfGFP at different positions. The azide moiety on modified sfGFP was then coupled using copper-catalyzed “click” chemistry with the alkyne terminus of a PEGMA synthesized by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The protein in the resulting bioconjugate was found to remain functionally active (i.e., fluorescent) after conjugation. Turbidity measurements revealed that the point of attachment of the polymer onto the protein scaffold has an impact on the thermoresponsive behavior of the resultant bioconjugate. Furthermore, small-angle X-ray scattering analysis showed the wrapping of the polymer around the protein in a temperature-dependent fashion. Our work demonstrates that standard genetic manipulation combined with an expanded genetic code provides an easy way to construct functional hybrid biomaterials where the location of the conjugation site on the protein plays an important role in determining material properties. We anticipate that our approach could be generalized for the synthesis of complex functional materials with precisely defined domain orientation, connectivity, and composition. / Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), University of Warwick, National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF), United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Seventh Framework Programme (European Commission) (FP7), European Research Council (ERC)