Physico-chemical characterisation of structure and stability of liposomes intended for drug delivery is the central issue in this thesis. In addition, targeted liposomes to be used in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) were developed. Lysolipids and fatty acids are products formed upon hydrolysis of PC-lipids. The aggregate structure formed upon mixing lysolipids, fatty acids and EPC were characterised by means of cryo-TEM. A relatively monodisperse population of unilamellar liposomes was detected in mixtures containing equimolar concentration of the three components. The interactions between alternative steric stabilisers (PEO-PPO-PEO copolymers) and conventional PC-and pH-sensitive PE-liposomes were investigated. Whereas the PE-liposomes could be stabilised by the PEO-PPO-PEO copolymers, the PC-liposomes showed an enhanced permeability concomitant with the PEO-PPO-PEO adsorption. Permeability effects induced by different PEG-stabilisers on EPC liposomes were shown to be dependent on the length of the PEG chain but also on the linkage used to connect the PEG polymer with the hydrophobic membrane anchor. An efficient drug delivery requires, in most cases, an accumulation of the drug in the cell cytoplasm. The mechanism behind cytosolic drug delivery from pH-sensitive liposomes was investigated. The results suggest that a destabilisation of the endosome membrane, due to an incorporation of non-lamellar forming lipids, may allow the drug to be released. Furthermore, sterically stabilised liposomes intended for targeted BNCT have been characterised and optimised concerning loading and retention of boronated drugs.

The focus of this thesis has been on the effects of segregation in mixtures of amphiphilic molecules. Two different systems were investigated: fluorocarbon-hydrocarbon surfactant mixtures and lipid-surfactant mixtures. In fluorocarbon-hydrocarbon surfactant mixtures the repulsive interactions between the chains can lead to a demixing into different types of coexisting micelles, fluorocarbon rich and hydrocarbon rich. From NMR self-diffusion measurements such a demixing was found to occur in the mixture of the partially fluorinated surfactant HFDePC and C16TAC. We furthermore suggested a demixing also within the micelles to explain 19F-NMR line width data and results from neutron scattering. In lipid-surfactant mixtures, a segregation of the molecules may instead be caused by a difference in the preferred curvature of the lipid and the surfactant residing within the same aggregate. Using a surfactant selective electrode, binding isoterms of four different cationic surfactants (C12TAC, C14TAC, C16TAC and HFDePC) to preformed lipid (GMO) vesicles were determined. Perforated vesicles were observed by cryo-TEM in the mixture with C16TAC. To explain the results from the binding isoterms, the formation of pores in the bilayer was regarded as a cooperative process, similar to micelle formation. The surfactant accumulates at the edges of the pores, and increasing the surfactant concentration results in an increased number of pores with a constant surfactant/lipid ratio at the edges. The lipid-surfactant mixtures were also studied at the solid/solution interface using AFM. An adsorbed mesh structure, a counterpart to the bulk perforated lamellar phase, was observed for the first time.

The main focus of this thesis is the investigation of the dissociation dynamics of aryl halides using femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. In the monohalogenated aryl halides, iodo-, bromo- and chlorobenzene, the rate of dissociation following excitation at 266 nm in the gas phase increased with increasing mass of the halogen atom. This process was assigned to predissociation of the initially excited singlet (π, π*) state via a repulsive triplet (n, σ*) state due to spin-orbit interaction. In addition to the predissociative mechanism, a direct dissociation channel was observed in iodobenzene. The rate of the predissociation in bromobenzene was found to be faster in the condensed phase than in the gas phase, which can be explained by solvent-induced symmetry perturbations. Ab initio calculations of the potential energy surfaces of the ground state and several low lying excited states in bromobenzene have been performed in order to verify the suggested mechanism. Substituting one of the hydrogen atoms in bromobenzene affected the predissociation rate significantly. In o-, m- and p-dibromobenzene the predissociation rate increased with decreasing distance between the bromine atoms in accordance with an increased spin-orbit interaction introduced by the bromine substituent. The fastest predissociation rate was observed in 1,3,5-tribromobenzene. With chlorine and fluorine substitution, inductive and conjugative effects were found to be of importance. In the o- and m-isomers of the dihalogenated aryl halides, an additional faster dissociation channel was observed. Guided by ab initio calculations of the potential energy surfaces in the dibromobenzene isomers, we ascribed the fast dissociation pathway to predissociation of an initially excited triplet state. Upon methyl group substitution in bromobenzene, the decreased lifetime of the initially excited state was attributed to an incresaed density of coupled states. Another system which has been studied in the condensed phase is diiodomethane. Using Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations we observed a prompt dissociation and subsequent recombination to the isomer, iso-diiodomethane, in acetonitrile solution. Vibrational wavepacket dynamics in the C (1Σ+) state of NaK were studied using a direct ionization probing scheme. A simple analytical expression for the pump-probe signal was developed in order to see what factors that govern direct ionization of the vibrational wavepacket. Our experimental data was consistent with a photoionization transition dipole moment that varies with internuclear distance.

Amino acid radicals are key redox intermediates in several natural enzymes including Cytochrome c peroxidase, DNA photolyase, ribonucletide reductase, cytochrome c oxidase and photosystem II. Electron transfer from amino acids is often coupled to deprotonation and this thesis concerns the coupling of electron transfer from tyrosine and tryptophan to trisbipyridineruthenium(III) with deprotonation in model complexes. Specifically the mechanisms for these proton coupled electron transfer reactions have been studied and the controlling parameters have been identified, the possible mechanisms being stepwise electron transfer followed by deprotonation and deprotonation followed by electron transfer or concerted electron transfer/deprotonation. Proton coupled electron transfer reactions have been studied using nano-second flash photolysis in water solution and the effect of pH, temperature, reaction driving force, deuteration and nature of the amino acid has been determined. I have shown that the rate constant for the concerted reaction depends intrinsically on the mixing entropy of the released proton and that the pH-dependence can be used as an experimental tool for mechanistic discrimination. Moreover I have shown that the concerted reaction inherently has a high reorganisation energy due to the coupling of the electron motion with deprotonation. Hydrogen bonding to the transferring proton however significantly reduces this reorganisation energy. The concerted reaction also has a relatively high driving force counteracting the high reorganisation energy in the competition between the concerted reaction and the stepwise electron transfer first reaction. The relative importance of the high reorganisation energy and the high driving force for the concerted reaction determines the mechanistic outcome of the reaction, the stepwise reaction being favoured by high over-all driving forces and the concerted reaction by high pH. By comparing my results from model complexes with tyrosineZ oxidation in photosystem II, I give strong evidence for a concerted electron transfer/deprotonation mechanism.

Mixing excipients is a common way to produce pharmaceutical materials with suitable properties for drug formulation. An understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in the formation and transformation of the structures of solid state mixtures is crucial if one is to be able to produce materials with the desired properties in a reliable way. In the first part of the thesis, the atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique was used to visualise the re-crystallisation of spray-dried amorphous particles comprised of lactose and PVP. The transformation was quantified on a single particle level and analysed with a common kinetic model, the JMAK-equation. The way in which the PVP was incorporated into the particles and the impact this had on their physical stability on exposure to increasing levels of humidity was investigated. The amount and, to a certain extent, the molecular weight of the PVP affected the moisture induced crystallisation of the particles. The inhibition was further discussed in terms of nucleation and growth. In the second part of the thesis, the formation of phases in solid dispersions of monoolein (MO) in PEGs was studied by the use of SAXS and DSC. Upon solidification of a melt, the components phase separated, resulting in a PEG-rich phase and an MO phase. MO was intercalated into the amorphous domains of the lamellar structure of PEG. A second MO phase appeared in the mixtures where the average molecular weight of PEG was 1500 and 4000 g/mol. It was hypothesised that this second phase was formed in conjunction with the expulsion of MO as the PEG unfolded. This thesis describes the application of two relatively unexplored solid state techniques on two different solid mixtures of pharmaceutical interest and, in so doing, contributes to the knowledge of phase formation and transformations in the solid state.

This thesis describes an interdisciplinary project, where the aim is to mimic the initial reactions in photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, the absorption of light is followed by the formation of charge-separated states. The energy stored in these charge-separated states is further used for the oxidation of water and reduction of carbon dioxide. In this thesis the photo-induced processes in a range of supramolecular complexes have been investigated with time resolved spectroscopic techniques. The complexes studied consist of three types of units; photosensitizers (P) capable of absorbing light, electron acceptors (A) that are easily reduced and electron donors (D) that are easily oxidised. Our results are important for the future design of artificial photosystems, where the goal is to produce hydrogen from light and water. Two molecular triads with a D-P-A architecture are presented. In the first one, a photo-induced charge-separated state was formed in an unusually high yield (φ>90%). In the second triad, photo-irradiation led to the formation of an extremely long-lived charge-separated state (τ = 500 ms at 140K). This is also the first synthetically made triad containing a dinuclear manganese unit as electron donor. Further, two sets of P-A dyads are presented. In both, the expected photo-induced reduction of the electron acceptor is diminished due to competing energy transfer to the triplet state of the acceptor. Finally, a P-P-A complex containing two separate photosensitizers is described. The idea is to produce high-energy charge-separated states by using the energy from two photons.

Processes where a molecule absorbs visible light and then disposes of the excess energy via electron/energy transfer reactions have an important role both in nature (e.g. in photosynthesis) and in many technical applications (e.g. in photography and photovoltaics). This thesis uses different spectroscopical techniques, mainly ultrafast transient absorption, to study such processes. The thesis can roughly be divided into three parts. In the first part, donor-acceptor systems linked by different conjugated bridges are studied. The objective was to see to what extent the conjugated link could enhance excited state energy or electron transfer, via so-called superexchange processes. The studied links do enhance the electron/energy transfer but in the electron transfer study the resulting charge separated state was very short lived. The second part explores the possibility of constructing acceptor-donor-acceptor triads where the direction of electron transfer is determined by the electronic state of the donor. Direct evidence of electron transfer in the form of radical absorption was found from both the first and the second excited states of the donor. In the last part, two common chromophores were investigated by transient absorption anisotropy. In the case of Ru(bpy)32+, it was found that the complex lost all memory of the polarization of the exciting light much faster than what was previously thought. This means that electron transfer between ligands is normally not the rate limiting step in electron transfer reactions involving this complex. In the case of zinc porphyrin, it was seen that the measured anisotropy differed depending on which electronic state was excited suggesting differences in the degree of coherence.

This thesis describes the results of experimental work on polyelectrolyte gels and their interaction with oppositely charged surfactants, and presents two new algorithms applicable to the simulation of colloid and polymer systems. The model systems investigated were crosslinked poly(acrylate) (PA) and poly(styrene sulphonate) (PSS), and the surfactant was dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide (DoTAB). Pure gel materials were studied using dynamic light scattering. It was shown that the diffusion coefficient (D) increases with increasing degree of swelling and the concentration dependence is larger than predicted by scaling arguments. For gels at swelling equilibrium D increases with increasing degree of crosslinking. In subsequent studies on gel particles in DoTAB solution, Raman spectra were recorded at different positions in the gel. For both types of gels two distinct regions could be observed. For PA the surfactant is localised in the outer phase without any surfactant in the core, while for PSS the surfactant was distributed such that it had the same concentration relative to the polymer throughout the gel. In a second experiment, the kinetics for the deswelling of microscopic PSS particles in DoTAB solution was studied. It was found that the final volume varied linearly with the DoTAB concentration, and the rate of volume decrease could be fitted to a single exponential indicating stagnant layer diffusion to be the rate limiting process for the deswelling of the PSS particles. In the second part, I first describe an algorithm showing an efficient way to detect percolation in simulations, with periodic boundary conditions, using recursion. Spherical boundary conditions is an alternative to periodic boundary conditions for systems with long-range interactions. In the last part, the possibility to use the surface of a hypersphere in four dimensions for simulations of polymer systems is investigated, and algorithms for Monte Carlo and Brownian dynamics simulations are described.

An ionic liquid (IL) is a salt, which usually is in the liquid state at normal temperature and pressure. The properties of ILs can be adjusted for various processes and applications by choosing different combinations of ions. Similar to other salts, ILs contain only ions with positive (cations) and negative (anions) charges in equal proportions. However, to prevent solidification, ions in ionic liquids usually contain bulky organic chemical groups, which, apart from electrostatic interactions, promote other types of interactions between ions, such as: (i) van-der-Waals interactions; (ii) hydrogen bonding; (iii) - stacking, etc., depending on the particular chemical structure of the ions. All these interactions, in combination, may lead to formation of specific microstructures in ILs, which may vary with temperature caused by changing thermal rotational and translational energies of the ions. Ions in these microstructures may have preferential orientations relative to each other, maintain anisotropic properties similar to those in liquid crystals or, in some specific cases, may even separate into microscopically organised liquid phases. Therefore, the dynamics of ILs may also be dependent on their microstructure. In many practical applications ionic liquids are placed on surfaces or in confinements. Solid surfaces introduce extra forces, which may be specific to the charge of the ions or/and to functional groups in the ILs. The geometry and interactions of ions in confinements or/and pores of materials may also disrupt specific bulk microstructures of ILs. Both confinement effects and interactions of ions with surfaces are manifested in the translational dynamics of the ions. One of the most direct and informative methods to study translational dynamics of ILs is pulse-field-gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR).In this thesis the results of PFG-NMR studies on a few classes of ILs are reported: (i) the historically “standard” (since Walden’s discovery in 1914) ionic liquid, the ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) and (ii) halogen-free orthoborate-based phosphonium, imidazolium and pyrrolidinium ILs with varied structure and lengths of alkyl chains in cations, and varied structures of orthoborate anions. These ILs were studied in bulk at different temperatures, and also in confinements, such as between parallel glass and Teflon plates and in mesoporous Vycor glass. It was found that diffusion coefficients of cations and anions in EAN, phosphonium and pyrrolidinium orthoborate ILs in bulk are different, but according to the standard Stocks-Einstein model, they correspond to diffusion of ions in homogeneous liquids. A change in the chemical structure of one of the ions results in a change in both the diffusion coefficient of the oppositely charged ion and the activation energy of diffusion for both ions in an IL. Similar effects were observed from the chemical shifts and diffusion coefficients measured by NMR for imidazolium orthoborate ILs dissolved in polyethylene glycol solutions, in which imidazolium cations strongly interact with PEG molecules, further affecting the diffusion of orthoborate anions via electrostatic interactions. A liquid-liquid phase separation was suggested for a few phosphonium and pyrrolidinium bis(mandelato)borate ILs, in which a divergence of diffusion coefficients and activation energies of diffusion for cations and anions was detected at temperatures below ca 50 °C. In addition, a free-volume theory was invoked to explain the dependences of density of ILs on the alkyl chain length in cations.It was also found that for a phosphonium bis(salicylato)borate IL confined in 4 nm mesoporous Vycor glass the diffusion coefficients of ions increase by a factor of 35! This phenomenon was explained by the dynamic heterogeneity of this IL in micropores and empty voids of the Vycor glass. For EAN IL in confinements between glass and Teflon plates, the diffusion of ethylammonium cations and nitrate anions is significantly anisotropic, i.e. slower in the direction of the normal to the plates and faster along the plates compared to diffusion of the ions in bulk. A plausible explanation of this PFG NMR data is that EAN forms layers near polar and non-polar solid surfaces. A similar phenomenon, to a lesser extent, was also observed for phosphonium cations of bis(mandelato)borate, bis(salicylato)borate and bis(oxalato)borate confined between glass plates. The results of these studies may have implications in modeling tribological performance, i.e., friction and wear reduction for contact pairs of different materials lubricated by various classes of ionic liquids. / För godkännande; 2016; 20160420 (andfil)

No description available.