<p>This study investigates how the host community of Tenerife perceives the socio-cultural effects of tourism on the island. The method chosen for the study was qualitative interviews which were performed with six respondents, each born in Spain, living permanently in Tenerife and employed within service-related occupations. The interview material was interpreted and handled according to a hermeneutic approach. The results of the study showed that the respondents had an over-all positive perception of tourism. Perceived positive socio-cultural effects were related to cultural and linguistic influences. Problems related to alcohol and community disorder were believed to be negative effects although they were not present to the same extent according to the respondents. The sociological theory “us and them” could be applied to this study since the locals chose to live and spend their free-time outside the tourist areas.</p><p> </p>

<p>Molecular recognition via noncovalent interactions plays a key role in many biological processes such as antigen-antibody interactions, protein folding, the bonding and catalytic transformation of substrates by enzymes, etc. Amongst these noncovalent interactions, electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, π-π interactions, and metal-to-ligand bonding are the most prominent. Exploring noncovalent interactions in host-guest systems that range from small hydrocarbon systems to more complex systems is the main motivation of this thesis. The present study involves the design, synthesis and characterization of clip-shaped molecules as host structures, and an examination of their binding properties with a variety of guests using NMR spectroscopy. </p><p>Several clips with a hydrocarbon or glycoluril backbone were synthesized. The binding of cations to small, hydrocarbon-based clips suggests that binding is enhanced by the rigidity and cooperativity between the two sidewalls of the clip. Binding is also very much dependant on the solvent properties. </p><p>Glycoluril-based clips built with aromatic sidewalls provide a deep cavity for binding guest molecules. The binding properties of these hosts were studied with several guests such as cations, Lewis acids and Lewis bases. Lewis basic binding sites in the acenaphthene-terminated clip were dominating in guest binding. Complexation-induced conformational changes in the wall-to-wall distance were observed for this clip.</p><p>In contrast, for a porphyrin-terminated clip with metal centers, very strong binding to a series of Lewis basic guests of various sizes into the clip cavity was observed. Conformational locking of guests with long alkyl chains was achieved, suggesting that, this clip could be useful as a potential molecular tool for the structural characterization of acyclic molecules with several stereogenic centers. This porphyrin clip was also shown to bind substituted fullerenes in the cavity.</p>

This study investigates how the host community of Tenerife perceives the socio-cultural effects of tourism on the island. The method chosen for the study was qualitative interviews which were performed with six respondents, each born in Spain, living permanently in Tenerife and employed within service-related occupations. The interview material was interpreted and handled according to a hermeneutic approach. The results of the study showed that the respondents had an over-all positive perception of tourism. Perceived positive socio-cultural effects were related to cultural and linguistic influences. Problems related to alcohol and community disorder were believed to be negative effects although they were not present to the same extent according to the respondents. The sociological theory “us and them” could be applied to this study since the locals chose to live and spend their free-time outside the tourist areas.

Molecular recognition via noncovalent interactions plays a key role in many biological processes such as antigen-antibody interactions, protein folding, the bonding and catalytic transformation of substrates by enzymes, etc. Amongst these noncovalent interactions, electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, π-π interactions, and metal-to-ligand bonding are the most prominent. Exploring noncovalent interactions in host-guest systems that range from small hydrocarbon systems to more complex systems is the main motivation of this thesis. The present study involves the design, synthesis and characterization of clip-shaped molecules as host structures, and an examination of their binding properties with a variety of guests using NMR spectroscopy. Several clips with a hydrocarbon or glycoluril backbone were synthesized. The binding of cations to small, hydrocarbon-based clips suggests that binding is enhanced by the rigidity and cooperativity between the two sidewalls of the clip. Binding is also very much dependant on the solvent properties. Glycoluril-based clips built with aromatic sidewalls provide a deep cavity for binding guest molecules. The binding properties of these hosts were studied with several guests such as cations, Lewis acids and Lewis bases. Lewis basic binding sites in the acenaphthene-terminated clip were dominating in guest binding. Complexation-induced conformational changes in the wall-to-wall distance were observed for this clip. In contrast, for a porphyrin-terminated clip with metal centers, very strong binding to a series of Lewis basic guests of various sizes into the clip cavity was observed. Conformational locking of guests with long alkyl chains was achieved, suggesting that, this clip could be useful as a potential molecular tool for the structural characterization of acyclic molecules with several stereogenic centers. This porphyrin clip was also shown to bind substituted fullerenes in the cavity.

Hyperbranched poly(ethylene imine) with Mw 5,000 and 25,000 Da and different degrees of substitution with maltose (PEI-Mal) was firstly described by Appelhans et al. Its biocompatibility and the potential to complex anionic molecules was demonstrated previously. In this study, the characterisation of host-guest interactions of PEI-Mal with various anionic water-soluble guest molecules with aromatic moieties in the structure (adenosine triphosphate, rose bengal, and acid red 26) in solution was provided. Also, a multicomponent drug@PEI-Mal@hydrogel system was achieved.

Les cryptophanes constituent une famille de molécules chirales qui comportent une cavité dans laquelle elles peuvent accueillir des espèces invitées de taille et de nature variables (halogénométhanes, xénon, cations). Nous nous sommes intéressés aux propriétés d’encapsulation présentées par trois espèces solubles dans l’eau : le cryptophane-A hexa-hydroxyle, le cryptophane-A penta-hydroxyle et le cryptophane-A hexa-acide carboxylique. La chiralité de ces systèmes a été utilisée pour en étudier les propriétés de complexation au moyen de techniques chiroptiques : la polarimétrie, le dichroïsme circulaire électronique (ECD) et le dichroïsme circulaire vibrationnel (VCD), cette dernière technique étant associée à des calculs de chimie théorique. Les effets de différents paramètres, tels que le pH de la solution et la nature des contre-ions, sur la complexation de molécules invitées ont été analysés. Les modifications conformationnelles induites sur les cryptophanes lors de l'encapsulation ont également été déterminées. De plus, des propriétés d'énantiodiscrimination de ces cryptophanes hydrosolubles énantiopurs vis-à-vis de petites molécules invitées chirales ont été mises en évidence. Enfin, ces cryptophanes ont montré une affinité exceptionnelle pour le cation césium Cs+ en solution aqueuse. Ces deux derniers résultats permettent d’envisager des applications intéressantes de ces systèmes en chromatographie chirale d’une part, et en chimie de l’environnement pour la détection de césium radioactif d’autre part. / Cryptophanes derivatives are a family of chiral molecules containing a cavity which enables them to encapsulate guest species with variable size and nature (halogenomethanes, xenon, cations). We have been interested in the encapsulation properties of three different water soluble cryptophanes: hexa-hydroxyl cryptophane-A, penta-hydroxyl cryptophane-A and hexa-carboxylic acid cryptophane-A. The chirality of these systems have been exploited to study their complexation properties using chiroptical techniques: polarimetry, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), the latter being associated with theoretical calculations. The effects of different parameters such as the pH of the solution and the nature of the counter-ions on the complexation of guest molecules have been analyzed. The conformational changes induced on the cryptophanes upon encapsulation have been also determined. In addition, enantiodiscrimination properties of these enantiopure water soluble cryptophanes toward small chiral guest molecules have been evidenced. Finally, these cryptophanes have shown an exceptional affinity for the cesium cation Cs+ in aqueous solution. These last two results allow to consider interesting applications of these systems in chiral chromatography and environmental chemistry, in particular for the detection of radioactive cesium, respectively.

Ce travail de thèse concerne le développement de nouvelles architectures hôte et invité à base de polysaccharide et leur application dans la conception de nanoparticules molles à structure hiérarchique et d’hydrogels supramoléculaires pour l’encapsulation et la libération de médicaments. Dans la première partie du manuscrit, nous décrivons une voie de synthèse de polymères hôtes et invités comprenant des chaînons espaceurs poly(éthylène glycol) hydrophile (PEG) entre le squelette de dextrane et soit le groupement b-cyclodextrine (bCD)(polymère hôte) ou le groupement adamantane (Ada) (polymère invité). La présence des bras espaceurs PEG a conduit à une amélioration substantielle de la disponibilité des groupes Ada du polymère invité par rapport à la situation avec un bras espaceur court et hydrophobe. Nous avons ensuite étudié la formation de nanoassemblages entre les différents types de polymères hôtes et invités. Une fois de plus, les espaceurs PEG ont eu un impact significatif sur la taille et la structure interne des nanoassemblages. La deuxième partie de ce travail décrit la synthèse d’une nouvelle série de dextranes greffés par des chaînons PEG et Ada, préparés par réactions de cycloaddition d'azoture-alcyne catalysées le cuivre (I) (CuAAC). Les degrés substitution (DS) en chaînons PEG greffés (5000 g/mole) sont de l’ordre de 20 mol.% tandis que les DS par les groupements Ada sont variés de 0 à 10 mol.%. L’affinité de ces polymères pour la bCD native, ainsi que leur capacité à former des couches superficielles avec des polymères de b-cyclodextrine (pbCD et pbCDN+), s'avèrent dépendre fortement du DS en groupements Ada, ce qui résulte de la coopérativité des interactions impliquées. Dans la dernière partie, nous avons décrit une stratégie de modification non covalente de microgels sensibles à la température à base de poly (N- isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm), pour les recouvrir d’une couronne de pbCDN+. Cette stratégie s'appuie sur l’auto-assemblage électrostatique entre pbCDN+ et les chaînes de poly(acide acrylique) chargés négativement (pAAc) et greffées à la surface des microgels. Dans le cas d’une charge globalement neutre des microgels pNIPAm/bCDN, la stabilisation colloïdale a pu être réalisée à l’aide de dextranes greffés (PEG, Ada) en utilisant une procédure d’assemblage hiérarchique. Enfin, à l'aide de dextrane modifié par des groupements Ada (DT-Ada), les microgels pNIPAm/bCDN ont pu être associés pour produire des hydrogels 3D hiérarchiques (10wt %). Leur température de transition sol-gel est décalée vers le bas pour atteindre la gamme des températures physiologiques (37-41°C) par rapport à celle observée dans un hydrogel hôte-invité uniforme bCDN/DT-Ada (51°C) / This PhD work is based on the development of new architectures of polysaccharide-based host and guest polymers and their application in the design of hierarchically structured soft nanoparticles and supramolecular hydrogels with interesting drug delivery profiles. In the first section of the manuscript we describe a synthetic pathway to host and guest polymers with hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) PEG spacer between the dextran backbone and either b-cyclodextrin (bCD) host or adamantane (Ada) guest grafted groups. The presence of the PEG spacer led to a substantial improvement of the availability of Ada groups of the guest polymer as compared to its counterpart, where Ada are linked to the backbone with a short hydrophobic spacer. This was followed by the study of nanoassemblies formation between the different types of host and guest polymers. Once again, PEG spacer had a significant impact on the size and internal structure of the resulting nanoassemblies. The second part of this work describes synthesis of a series of new (PEG, Ada)-grafted dextrans prepared by copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). The degrees of substitution (DS) by PEG grafts (5000 g/mole) are close to 20 mol% while the DS by Ada-groups are varied from 0 to 10 mol.%. The affinity of these polymers to monomeric bCD, as well as their ability to form superficial layers with b-cyclodextrin polymers (pbCD, pbCDN+), are strongly dependent on the DS by Ada, giving an indication of cooperativity effects between them. In the last part we described a strategy to a non-covalent modification of thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm)-based microgels with a pbCDN+ host polymer shell. It uses on electrostatic self-assembly between pbCDN+ and negatively charged poly(acrylic acid) (pAAc) chains grafted to the surface of microgels. The resulting pNIPAm/bCDN microgels with neutral overall charge could be colloidally stabilized with (PEG, Ada)-grafted dextrans via a hierarchical self-assembly procedure. Finally, using Ada-modified dextrans (DT-Ada), pNIPAm/bCDN microgels could be physically cross-linked to yield hierarchical 3D hydrogels (at 10 wt%). Their gel-sol transition temperature is shifted down to the physiological temperature range (37-41°C) as compared to uniform pbCDN/DT-Ada host-guest hydrogels (51°C

In this thesis, density functional theory is employed in the study of two kinds of systems that can be considered to be biomimetic in their own ways. First, three binuclear metal complexes, synthesized by the group of Prof. Ebbe Nordlander, have been investigated. The complexes are designed to resemble the active sites of phosphatase enzymes and have been examined in complexes where either two Zn(II) ions or one Fe(III) and one Mn(II) ion are bound. These dinuclear compounds were studied as catalysts for the hydrolysis of bis(2,4-dinitrophenyl) phosphate and the transesterification of 2-hydroxypropyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate, which are model systems for the same reactions occurring in DNA or RNA. It was found that the two reactions take place in similar ways: a hydroxide ion that is terminally bound to one of the metal centers acts either as a nucleophile in the hydrolysis reaction or as a base in the transesterification. The leaving groups depart in an effectively concerted manner, and the formed catalyst-product complexes are predicted to be the resting states of the catalytic cycles. The rate-determining free energy barriers are identified from the catalyst-product complex in one catalytic cycle to the transition state of nucleophilic attack in the next. Another type of biomimetic modeling is made with an aim of imitating the conceptual features of selective binding of guests and screening them from solute-solvent interactions. Such features are found in so-called nanocontainers, and this thesis is concerned with studies of two capsules synthesized by the group of Prof. Julius Rebek, Jr. First, the cycloaddition of phenyl acetylene and phenyl azide has experimentally been observed to be accelerated in the presence of a capsule. Computational studies were herein performed on this system, and a previously unrecognized structure of the capsule is discovered. Two main factors are then identified as sources of the rate acceleration compared to the uncatalyzed reaction, namely the reduction of the entropic component and the selective destabilization of the reactant supercomplex over the transition state. In the second capsule study, the alkane binding trends of a water-soluble cavitand was studied. It is found that implicit solvation models fail severely in reproducing the experimental equilibrium observed between binding of n-decane by the cavitand monomer and encapsulation in the capsule dimer. A mixed explicit/implicit solvation protocol is developed to better quantify the effect of hydrating the cavitand, and a simple correction to the hydration free energy of a single water molecule is proposed to remedy this. The resulting scheme is used to predict new hydration free energies of the cavitand complexes, resulting in significant improvement vis-à-vis experiments. The computational results presented in this thesis show the usefulness of the quantum chemical calculations to develop understanding of experimental trends observed for substrate binding and catalysis. In particular, the methodology is shown to be versatile enough such that experimental observations can be reproduced for such diverse systems as studied herein. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 5: Manuscript.</p>

A straightforward means to include explicit hydrogen bonds within the Universal Force Field (UFF) is presented. Instead of treating hydrogen bonds as non-bonded interaction subjected to electrostatic and Lennard-Jones potentials, we introduce an explicit bond with a negligible bond order, thus maintaining the structural integrity of the H-bonded complexes and avoiding the necessity to assign arbitrary charges to the system. The explicit hydrogen bond changes the coordination number of the acceptor site and the approach is thus most suitable for systems with under-coordinated atoms, such as many metalorganic frameworks; however, it also shows an excellent performance for other systems involving a hydrogen-bonded framework. In particular, it is an excellent means for creating starting structures for molecular dynamics and for investigations employing more sophisticated methods. The approach is validated for the hydrogen bonded complexes in the S22 dataset and then employed for a set of metal-organic frameworks from the Computation-Ready Experimental database and several hydrogen bonded crystals including water ice and clathrates. We show that the direct inclusion of hydrogen bonds reduces the maximum error in predicted cell parameters from 66% to only 14%, and the mean unsigned error is similarly reduced from 14% to only 4%. We posit that with the inclusion of hydrogen bonding, the solvent-mediated breathing of frameworks such as MIL-53 is nowaccessible to rapid UFF calculations, which will further the aim of rapid computational scanning of metal-organic frameworks while providing better starting points for electronic structure calculations.

This qualitative study looks at host-guest interaction facilitated by the phenomenon of tourism social entrepreneurship through the lens of emotional solidarity. Social entrepreneurship is arguably the social innovation that tourism needs and has become an alternative strategy to develop tourism in host communities with the potential to create positive community change. However, the literature on combining sharing  economy, social or community entrepreneurship and emotional solidarity is scarce. Therefore, this study analyses host-guest interactions facilitated through the socialstart-up socialbnb. Findings from this study indicate that there are at least two crucial criteria forsustainable tourism development and positive community change. First, social entrepreneurship should create and facilitate tourism structures and networks, which avoid the negative impacts of tourism to the residents and instead create social,ecological, and economic benefits for the local community. Perhaps, focusing on theneeds of the local community and creating beneficial host-guest relationships is themost effective way to promote tourism development that is supported by residents.Thus, social entrepreneurship should not only act as a facilitator between guests and the local community but also consider the residents’ attitudes towards tourism development and the actual economic need for tourism in the destination, especially in the Global South.