Universiẗat, Diss., 1990--Heidelberg.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-12-17Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:08:49Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 paulino_kh_me_sjrp.pdf: 434360 bytes, checksum: a8e2b302456d5e127779718e98e3d011 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Neste trabalho foram resolvidos, através de Equação de Schrödinger independente do tempo, os potenciais biestáveis do Poço Duplo Quadrado Unidimensional Simétrico (PDQUS) e do Poço Duplo Assimétrico (PDQUA), concentrando neste último grande parte do estudo. Como todo PDQUS é ressonante por definição, é possível então estimar o tempo de tunelamento através da Fórmula de Rabi. O mesmo não acontece com PDQUA, pois nem todo poço duplo assimétrico é ressonante. Foi necessário então, encontrar barreiras de potencial e distância entre os poços que permitiram a ressonância, pois a probabilidade de tunelamento é muito maior que aquelas dos casos onde não há ressonância. Além do tempo de tunelamento, o tempo de transição eletrônica também é estimado, com o objetivo de propor um modelo de transferência eletrônica (TE). Uma possível aplicação para tal modelo está relacionada a sistemas biológicos ocorrendo por tunelamento e por transição, utilizando o PDQUA. Com base na TE em bactérias fotossintéticas, pôde-se obter informações estruturais, como: as distâncias e energias envolvidas no processo, que foram essenciais para os exemplos numéricos tratados nesse trabalho. / In this work were resolved, by Schrödinger equation independent of time, the bistable potential of the One Dimensional Symmetric Double Square Well (PDQUS) and Asymmetric Double Well (PDQUA), concentrating largely in the latter study. As all PDQUS is resonant by definition, it is possible then estimate the time of tunneling through the Rabi formula. This not happens with PDQUA, because not all asymmetric double well is resonant. It was necessary then, to find potential barriers and distance between wells that allowed the resonance because the tunneling probability is much higher than those cases where there is no resonance. Besides the time of tunneling, the electronic transition time is also estimated, with the objective of proposing a model of electron transfer (TE). One possible application for such a model is related to biological systems occuring by tunneling and transition, using the PDQUA. Based on the TE in photosynthetic bacteria, could be obtained structural information, such as distances and energies involved in the process, which were essential for the numerical examples treated in this work.

abstract: To mimic the membrane environment for the photosynthetic reaction center of the photoheterotrophic Heliobacterium modesticaldum, a proteoliposome system was developed using the lipids found in native membranes, as well as a lipid possessing a Ni(II)-NTA head group. The liposomes were also saturated with menaquinone-9 to provide further native conditions, given that menaquinone is active within the heliobacterial reaction center in some way. Purified heliobacterial reaction center was reconstituted into the liposomes and a recombinant cytochrome c553 was decorated onto the liposome surface. The native lipid-attachment sequence of cytochrome c553 was truncated and replaced with a hexahistidine tag. Thus, the membrane-anchoring observed in vivo was simulated through the histidine tag of the recombinant cytochrome binding to the Ni(II)-NTA lipid's head group. The kinetics of electron transfer in this system was measured and compared to native membranes using transient absorption spectroscopy. The preferential-orientation of reconstituted heliobacterial reaction center was also measured by monitoring the proteoliposome system's ability to reduce a soluble acceptor, flavodoxin, in both whole and detergent-solubilized proteoliposome conditions. These data demonstrate that this proteoliposome system is reliable, biomimetic, and efficient for selectively testing the function of the photosynthetic reaction center of Heliobacterium modesticaldum and its interactions with both donors and acceptors. The recombinant cytochrome c553 performs similarly to native cytochrome c553 in heliobacterial membranes. These data also support the hypothesis that the orientation of the reconstituted reaction center is inherently selective for its bacteriochlorophyll special pair directed to the outer-leaflet of the liposome. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Chemistry 2018

abstract: Photochromic molecules, which photoisomerize between two chemically and optically distinct states, are well suited for electron and energy transfer to covalently attached chromophores. This dissertation aims to manipulate electron and energy transfer by photochromic control in a number of organic molecular systems. Herein the synthesis, characterization and function of these organic molecular systems will be described. Electron and energy transfer were quantified by the use of steady state absorbance and fluorescence, as well as time-resolved fluorescence and transient absorbance. A dithienylethene-porphrin-fullerene triad was synthesized to investigate photochromic control of photo-induced electron transfer. Control of two distinct electron transfer pathways was achieved by photochromic switching. A molecular dyad was synthesized, in which fluorescence was modulated by energy transfer by photoinduced isomerization. Also described is a triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion system that covalently attaches fluorophores to improve quantum yield. Overall these studies demonstrate complex molecular switching systems, which may lead to advancement in organic electronic applications and organic based artificial photosynthesis systems. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Chemistry 2014

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Interprotein electron transfer (ET) is crucial for natural energy conversion and a fundamental reaction in the pursuit of understanding the broader problem of proteinprotein interactions and reactivity. Simplifying the complicated nature of these natural systems has driven development of biomimetic approaches. Functionalized gold nanoparticles offer simplified, tunable surfaces that can serve as a proxy to study the reactivity and dynamics of proteins. Amino-acid functionalized gold nanoparticles (Au-TX) served as a complementary partner to cytochrome c (Cyt c) and catalyzed its ET reactivity without altering the native structure. Redox mediator and EPR experiments confirmed that the redox potential and coordination environment of the heme were unaltered. Varying the functionality of Au-TX under limiting redox reagent concentrations resulted in distinct ET reactivity. These conditions reflected the collision of a small redox reagent with the Cyt c/Au-TX adduct, introducing the possibility of Cyt c/Au-TX dynamics to modulate ET. Under high ionic strength conditions, the rate enhancement ranged from 0.0870 " 1011 for Cyt c/Au-TAsp to 1.95 " 1011 M-1 s-1 for Cyt c/Au-TPhe. Au-TAsp binds to a larger surface of the front face of Cyt c than Au-TPhe, likely reducing heme access and resulting in attenuated ET reactivity.Site-directed spin-labeling characterized the dynamic interactions and motion of Cyt c with Au-TX. Several mutants of Cyt c were utilized to extract information about the different dynamics of the Cyt c/Au-TPhe and Cyt c/Au-TAsp systems. Cyt c appeared to have a highly dynamic binding interaction with the surface of Au-TPhe while binding to Au-TAsp resulted in a more rigid interface, particularly at the heme crevice. The dynamic interaction of Cyt c/Au-TX at the heme crevice could promote a gated ET mechanism between Cyt c and its redox partner. Thus, the reduced reactivity of Cyt c/Au-TAsp is likely a result of both slower global dynamics and more rigid binding near the heme crevice.

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This study expands the role of polythiophenes as an electron donating chromophore within energy harvesting milti-modular donor-acceptor systems. The polythiophene moiety would act as an electron donating spacer group between the donor and acceptor entities, viz., phenothiazine and fulleropyrrolidine, respectively, in the newly synthesized supramolecular triads. The triads 10-{[2,2';5',2"] terthiophene-5-fulleropyrrolidine} phenothiazine and 10-{[2,2'] bithiophene-5-fulleropyrrolidine} phenothiazine were synthesized and characterized through electrochemical and spectroscopic methods to ascertain their structural integrity. the componets of the triads were selected for their established redox parameters. Phenothiazine would act as a secondary donor and would facilitate hole-transfer from the polythiophene primary electron donor, due to its ease of oxidation and yield a long-lived charge separated state. Fulleropyrrolidine would act as an acceptor for ease of reductive capabilities and its ability to hold multiple charges. Finally, occurrence of photoinduced electron transferleading to the anticipated charge separated states is established from advanced transient spectroscopic techniques on these novel supramolecular systems.