Lithium, together with hydrogen and helium, were the only elements formed duringthe big bang. Lithium today, is a component in various products, some examples aregrease, ceramics, lithium-ion batteries and medication for bipolar disorder. Eventhough the knowledge of lithium’s interactions with biota and our environment islimited, the use of lithium is increasing. In humans, lithium is primarily absorbed in thesmall intestine through Na-channels. The average daily intake varies a lot, but in1985 it was estimated to range from 650 to 3100 μg for a 70 kg adult, according tointernational studies. However, it is not considered as a micronutrient and does nothave a recommended daily intake. Levels in some drinking waters are estimated toreach 170 μg L-1but no definite limit values are set. Humic substances are omnipresent in soil and freshwaters and is well known to formcomplexes with various cations such as most metals. In plants, the complexation ofcadmium and zinc with humic substances decreases their toxicity. However,currently, no studies have been published regarding if this is valid for animal cells aswell. To investigate if this is the case, in vitro tests were performed on Caco-2 cells,which originate from a colon carcinoma. These cells were exposed to a lithium concentration of 10 μg L-1in a nutrient medium for 2 hours. To a series of thesamples, humic acid was added to give a final concentration of 9.86 μg L-1 in thesolution to investigate if that would influence the lithium uptake. The study also includes a methodological evaluation if the performance of microplasma atomic emission spectroscopy (MP-AES) is suitable for the analyses of heavymatrices, e.g. nutrient medium and 1% Triton X solution. After optimization of instrumental parameters, it was concluded that MP-AES can beused for analysis of heavy and complex matrices. It requires, however, the use ofmatrix matched calibration solutions and addition of caesium as ionization buffer incombination with lithium signal correction using internal standards. It is alsoconcluded that lithium is absorbed by Caco-2 cells and that there was no indicationthat humic acid altered this uptake. / Litium är en viktig komponent in många produkter, bland annat smörjmedel, keramik,litium-jonbatterier och medicin mot bipolär sjukdom. Även fast dagens kunskap omlitium och dess interaktioner med miljö och organismer är begränsad, ökaranvändandet av litium. I människor absorberas litium primärt i tunntarmen genomNa-kanaler. Det dagliga intaget av litium varierar geografiskt och med livsstil och detfinnas inga bestämda gränsvärden. I USA var det dagliga intaget av litium 1985uppskattat att ligga kring 650 till 3100 μg hos en vuxen som väger 70 kg. Humusämnen är väl kända för att bilda komplex med flertalet metaller. I växter hardet påvisats att humusämnen kan bilda komplex med kadmium och zink vilketminskar toxiciteten av dessa för växten. Inga studier har dock hittats gällandehumusämnens eventuella möjligheter att minska toxiciteten av litium, eller andrametaller, hos djur eller människor. För att undersöka detta närmare har denna studiegjorts för att få ökad förståelse kring absorptionen av litium till Caco-2 celler samt föratt se om närvaro av humussyra kan påverka ett eventuellt upptag. Vidare presenteras resultat från en metodologisk utvärdering om MP-AES kananvändas för att kvantifiera litium i tyngre matriser, såsom näringsmedium för celleroch Triton X-100. Resultaten visar att MP-AES kan användas för dessa matriser genom att användamatrismatchade kalibreringslösningar och cesium som jonisationshämmare ikombination med korrigering av litiumsignalen med hjälp av signalen från internstandard. Sammanfattningsvis så absorberar Caco-2 celler litium och ingenindikation på att humusämnen påverkar detta upptag kunde hittas.

In recent years, there has been a rise in the use of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) that mimic the effects of controlled drugs and licensed medicines, which have become a significant public health concern globally. Synthetic cannabinoids, a rapidly expanding category of NPS, with much higher potency and binding affinity to the cannabinoid receptors than ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), have led to serious psychiatric complications and other adverse effects. This project aims to synthesize and analyze four potential metabolites of a synthetic cannabinoid, ADB-5´Br-BUTINACA, to determine if the synthesized metabolites correspond to those produced in human hepatocytes. The metabolites were synthesized by alkylation, amide coupling, and hydrolysis/TFA treatment and analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The reaction strategy combined all three steps into a single process, making it significantly easier to carry out and not requiring much expertise. The results suggest that the synthetic approach used in this project was successful in generating the desired potential metabolites, with overall yields varying from 27.5 % to 57.6 % and high purities ranging from 95.6 % to 99.3 %. However, the overall yields were lower than expected due to product loss during the transfer of the solution mixture, the possibility of side reactions, and incomplete conversion. Further optimization of reaction conditions may be necessary to improve the yield of the synthesized metabolites.

In the past few decades, devices such as computers have become smaller, and their performance has improved beyond comparison. Semiconductors and interconnectors are used in almost all devices today and are made of thin films. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) are common methods for depositing conformal films, where the film grows by being exposed to precursors either continuously as in CVD or by pulses as is pulsed CVD and ALD. It has been reported that Cu amidinate and guanidinate are precursors for depositing metallic Cu (Copper), but they tend to decompose. Precursors that are thermally stable and can be used to deposit a thin film of Cu are (1,3-di-tert-butyltriazenides) copper(I) (Cu-triazenides). This precursor has been synthesized and developed by the Pedersen Group in the Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM) at Linköpings University. This thesis investigates if Cu-triazenides are suitable as vapor deposition precursors using pulsed CVD and if Cu-triazenides are suitable as an ALD precursor with H2O as the second precursor. The main objective of this thesis is to focus on films deposited with ALD by finding the ALD window that gives a growth per cycle and making a saturation curve for each precursor. Si(100) and glass were used as the substrate, and SEM-EDX (Scanning electron microscopy- Energy- dispersive X-ray spectroscopy), XRD (X-ray diffraction), and XRR (X-ray reflectivity) analyzed the chemical, physical and, optical properties of the films. The Cu-triazenides were suitable as single-source precursors, as films were deposited with pulsed CVD on both Si(100) and glass. ALD deposited no film on Si(100) between the temperature 175–300 °C, and the analysis methods did not provide information on the thickness and composition of the films deposited on the glass.

The presented thesis is devoted to the field of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Time-dependent Kohn-Sham density functional theory (TDDFT) is applied in order to eludicate optical properties such as fluorescence and phosphorescence for some of the most important materials. The accuracy of TDDFT is evaluated with respect to the calculated absorption and emission spectra for commonly used light emitting polymers. A continuation of this work is devoted to Polyfluorene as this polymer has proven to be very promising. In this study the chain length dependence of its singlet and triplet excited states is analyzed as well as the excited state structures. Understanding the phosphorescence mechanism of tris(2-phenylpyridine)Iridium is of importance in order to interpret the high efficiency of OLEDs containing these specimens. The mechanism is analyzed by calculating the electric transition dipole moments by means of TDDFT using quadratic response functions. As not only the optical properties are essential for effective devices, electron transfer properties are addressed. The electron transfer capability of the sulfur and nitrogen analogues of Oxadiazole is evaluated through their internal reorganization energy. / <p>QC 20101109</p>

Introduktion: Immunologisk trombocytopeni, ITP är en autoimmun sjukdom. Hos ITP patienter bildas autoantikroppar mot trombocyter som leder till trombocyt eliminering och därmed till trombocytopeni. ITP kan delas in i olika grupper beroende på durationen. Duration i mindre än tre månader kallas för nydiagnostiserad ITP, duration mellan 3 och 12 månader kallas för persistent ITP och duration i mer än 12 månader kallas för kronisk ITP. ITP kan behandlas med olika terapier som anti-CD20-antikroppar som rituximab och trombopoietin-receptor-agonister eltrombopag.  Syfte: Examensarbetes syfte är att undersöka samt jämföra effektivitet mellan rituximab och eltrombopag mot kronisk ITP patienter. Metod: Det här arbetet är baserat på en litteratursökning via databasen PubMed med sökord ”eltrombopag and immune thrombocytopenia” och ” rituximab and immune thrombocytopenia” och därefter valdes 4 Randomized Controlled Trial studier.  Resultat: Studie 1 visade bra effektivitet av rituximab mot kronisk ITP och 28% av patienter kunde nå trombocytantal över 50 x109/L i över 6 månader efter behandlingens slut. Studie 2 visade bra effektivitet av rituximab mot kronisk ITP och 30,8% av patienter kunde nå trombocytantal över 50 x109/L i över 6 månader efter behandlings slut. Studie 3 visade mycket bra effektivitet av eltrombopag mot kroniskt ITP och 60% av patienter kunde nå trombocytantal över 50 x109/L under behandlingstiden. Effekten försvann efter 2 veckor av behandlingens slut.  Studie 4 visade mycket bra effektivitet av eltrombopag mot kroniskt ITP och 59% av patienter kunde nå trombocytantal över 50 x109/L under behandlingstiden. Effekten försvann efter 2 veckor av behandlingens slut.  Slutsats: Både rituximab och eltrombopag visade bra effekt hos ITP patienter, men eltrombopag visade bättre effekt mot kronisk ITP än rituximab. Eltrombopag kunde ge bättre effektivitet samt snabbare svar på ökning av trombocytantalet hos de flesta patienter som behandlades i jämförelse med rituximab. Dock försvann effekten av eltrombopag snabbare efter utsatt behandling. / Introduction: Immunological thrombocytopenia, ITP is an autoimmune disease that can develop in our bodies. Autoantibodies develop in ITP patients against platelets, which are small cells without a nucleus and are formed from the megakaryocytes and play an important role in hemostasis and blood clotting. This leads to platelet elimination and thus to thrombocytopenia. Thrombocytopenia is a condition that means low levels of platelets in the individual and which can lead to various severe symptoms such as bleeding and can even cause death. The cause of ITP may be unknown and then it is called primary ITP. Other reasons can be such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and then the immune system against platelets is triggered, this is called secondary ITP. ITP can also be divided into different groups depending on the duration in each patient. Duration of less than three months is called newly diagnosed ITP, duration between 3 and 12 months is called persistent ITP and duration of more than 12 months is called chronic ITP. ITP can be treated with various therapies. First line therapy is glucocorticoids, and second line therapy is splenectomy, anti-CD20 antibodies rituximab and thrombopoietin receptor agonists such as eltrombopag. Aim: The purpose of the study is to investigate and compare the efficacy of rituximab and eltrombopag patients with chronic ITP. Method: This work is based on a literature search via the database PubMed with the keywords "eltrombopag and immune thrombocytopenia" and "rituximab and immune thrombocytopenia" and then 4 Randomized Controlled Trial studies were selected, 2 studies deal with rituximab and 2 studies deal with eltrombopag. Results: Study 1 showed good efficacy of rituximab compared to placebo against chronic ITP and 28% of patients were able to reach platelet counts above 50 x109/L for more than 6 months after cessation of treatment. Study 2 showed good efficacy of rituximab in chronic ITP and 30.8% of patients were able to reach platelet counts above 50 x109/L for more than 6 months after treatment. Study 3 showed very good efficacy of eltrombopag against chronic ITP and 60% of patients were able to reach platelet counts above 50 x109/L during the treatment period. The effect disappeared after 2 weeks of treatment discontinuation. Study 4 showed very good efficacy of eltrombopag against chronic ITP and 59% of patients were able to reach platelet counts above 50 x109/L during the treatment period. The effect disappeared after 2 weeks of treatment discontinuation. Conclusion: Both rituximab and eltrombopag showed good efficacy against ITP patients, but eltrombopag showed better efficacy against chronic ITP than rituximab. The NNT number showed that more patients need to be treated with rituximab compared to eltrombopag in order for only one of the patients to be able to achieve a platelet count above 50 x109/L, which means a greater chance for those treated with eltrombopag to achieve a platelet count above 50 x109/L. Eltrombopag was able to provide better efficacy and a faster response to increase in platelet count in most patients treated compared to rituximab.

Liquid based electrolytes are known to have safety issues and for their low volumetric energy densities to meet the future energy storage demand. Solid electrolytes based on ion conducting solid ceramic and solid polymer electrolytes are being studied and considered as an alternative to alleviate the issues with liquid electrolytes. Their mechanical property to better suppress dendrite formation gives them an edge to be considered in the realization of high - capacity lithium metal batteries. However, each have such issues associated with them as low ionic conductivity in the case of polymer electrolytes and bad interfacial contact with the lithium anode in the case of inorganic ionic conducting solid electrolytes. Polymer – ceramic composite electrolytes are regarded as a promising option to take advantage of the merits of both and obtain a solid electrolyte which can conduct lithium ions as high as in the mS/cm scale with good electrode – electrolyte interfacial contact, a high electrochemical stability window and high lithium dendrite suppression. This work has aimed to tune the surface of the garnet type ceramic electrolyte, Li7La3Zr2O7, referred to as LLZO, by acid treatment to bring about a better conductivity and lithium – ion transference number of the composite it is applied to. The acid, oxalic acid in this work, treatment has produced the required surface groups, hydroxide ion and oxalate ion, which are hypothesised to help improve the conductivity through the beneficial interactions they bring into the matrix. The conductivity and transference number measurements have revealed the treatment of the LLZO with the acid to have a positive impact on the conductivity and lithium – ion transference number of the composite compared to the untreated counterpart. Typical of the results obtained are the increment in conductivity and the lithium-ion transference number of composites containing 50 % ceramic (LLZO) mass loading. Across all the temperatures the conductivity is measured, an increment by a range of 2.5 times (at room temperature) to 7.8 times (at 60 0C) was obtained. Similarly, the lithium-ion transference number has increased from 0.121 in the composite containing 50 % untreated (pristine) LLZO to 0.159 in the composite containing the same mass loading of oxalic acid treated LLZO.

The increasing prevalence of glass windows in modern buildings has raised the demand for solar control windows that possess climate-appropriate properties. Glass windows made of abundant and low-cost materials which can both decrease the heating energy consumption as well as enhance the light climate indoors would sufficiently meet the goals of economical yet uplifting buildings. The main objective of this thesis was to examine whether a plasmonic hybrid interface, comprising three layers of thin films (gold nanoparticles of approximately 10 nm, ZrO2 with a thickness range of 20-35 nm, and ZnO with a thickness of approximately 20 nm), could achieve the upconversion of infrared light to visible light through a multiphoton absorption process in the ZnO layer. If successful, this configuration, in conjunction with an established layer capable of downconverting ultraviolet light to visible light, would be applied to commercially available glass windows to enhance the solar utilization and improve indoor lighting conditions. ZnO was selected as the upconversion material due to its wide emission range in the visible spectrum, indicative of intermediate electron states between the valence and conduction bands suitable for excitation. The objective of the plasmonic material, the gold nanoparticles, was to increase the probability of the upconversion process by utilizing the enhanced electric field resulting from plasmons localized at the surface of the gold nanoparticles. ZrO2 served as a separator layer between the plasmonic material and the ZnO, to effectively preventing charge transfer and ensuring that any upconversion or other photoluminescence processes were purely photonic. Various optical experimental techniques were employed in this study to assess any upconversion, plasmon enhancement, and map the intermediate electron states of the ZnO. The ZrO2 layer successfully prevented charge transfer between the layers. However, the influence ofthe gold’s surface plasmons and it’s enhanced electric field on ZnO emission varied among the samples, likely due to the synthesis processes. Ultimately, the plasmonic hybrid interface investigated in this thesis did not exhibit detectable upconversion when illuminated with either 600 or 750 nm light. Further research is necessary to increase the density of intermediate electron states in ZnO, along with optimization of the thin film synthesis to enhance plasmon effects. These advancements would augment the probability of detectable upconversion.

Protein engineering has been used to alter the stability of proteins for several decades withmuch success, one approach being to introduce two cysteine residues that together form adisulfide bridge. The disulfide bridge can increase the Gibbs free energy of the transitionstate, thus increasing energy difference between the folded state and the unfolding transitionstate, leading to increased kinetic stability of the protein. Subtilisin Carlsberg is a serineprotease that has widespread applications within the industry but has also been tried in biogasprocesses to increase the biomethane yield from proteinaceous substrates. Subtilisin’s activitylifetime was found to be short in the biogas process, which prompted the need to increase theenzyme’s kinetic stability, meaning that the introduction of a disulfide bridge could be asolution. The aim of this project was to increase the kinetic stability of Subtilisin Carlsbergwith the use of introduced disulfide bridges.The production of Subtilisin Carlsberg has traditionally been done using the source organismBacillus Licheniformis, but here a successful method for expressing Subtilisin, and fourdisulfide variants of it, as an inclusion-body protein is presented. Also, a method forpurifying and refolding the protein under denaturing conditions is presented with a significantprotein yield.Thermal stability analysis of the WT enzyme and its four variants (A24C/S86C,N122C/A227C, K12C/E270C, V26C/A231C) was performed using NanoDSF, and showedthat the thermal stability was practically unchanged for A24C/S86C at 67.9 ℃, decreased by5.6 ℃ for N122C/A227C, increased by 8.2 ℃ for K12C/E270C, and increased by 11.5 ℃ forV26C/A231C.The kinetic stability of Subtilisin and its variants was analysed using stopped-flowmeasurements of the proteins’ denaturation rate at various GuHCl concentrations. The resultsshowed that N122C/A227C and V26C/A231C were more kinetically stable than the WTenzyme, while A24C/S86C and K12C/E270C were less stable. N122C/A227C had anactivation energy for unfolding of 5.217 kJ/mol higher than WT Subtilisin. V26C/A231C hadan activation energy for unfolding of 1.220 kJ/mol higher than WT Subtilisin. The resultsthereby show that two disulfides bond mutations achieved the desired outcome of increasedkinetic stability. Thereby, the aim of the project was fulfilled.

Non-ionic deep eutectic solvent (ni-DES) possesses various advantages such as good solvation, biodegradability, and non-toxicity which makes it a perfect and environmentally friendly solvent for organic synthesis. A Pd (OAc)2 catalyzed, Suzuki reaction of aryl bromide and N-heteroaryl halide with arylboronic acid in green and novel solvent (ni-DES) is described. In this work, the possibility of using ni-DES and the impact of this solvent on the scope of the reaction is studied. It is illustrated that using the mixture of N-alkyl derivatives of urea and acetamide as a green solvent for Suzuki reaction is achievable even though the desired amount of product was not obtained. However, the high yield in ni-DES can be obtained by choosing 4-bromobenzotrifluoride or 4-bromoanisole as the aryl bromide with arylboronic acid that possess the electron donating groups. Despite that, for getting more yield through Suzuki reaction in ni-DES more studies on optimization are required.

The aim of this study was to find and use a heterogeneous catalyst to catalyze the transesterification reaction of biodiesel. The purpose of this is to have a more sustainable production of biodiesel which uses fewer chemicals and can reuse the catalyst easily. Our team chose a base catalyst of calcium oxide (CaO) based on early research but with a change of doping the base catalyst with sodium, thus making sodium doped calcium oxide (Na-CaO). The catalyst was synthesized using calcium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide as precursors. The sodium concentration was chosen to be at 3 weight%. The main part of the study was on testing the efficiency of the catalyst and determining at which conditions the reaction performs best. The best conditions for the catalyst were found at 60 °C and the ratio of rapeseed oil to methanol was 1:9. The mass concentration of the catalyst was 2 weight% and the reaction time was 2 hours. These conditions resulted in a biodiesel yield of 97,6 %. / Studien som gjordes gick ut på att tillverka en heterogen katalysator för att katalysera transesterifiering reaktionen för biodieseltillverkning. Syftet med detta är att ha en mer hållbar produktion som använder sig utav färre kemikalier och samtidigt kan återanvända katalysatorn. Valet av katalysator skedde efter värdering av äldre studier och basen för katalysatorn valdes till kalciumoxid (CaO), med en ändring av att dopa denna med natrium, det vill säga natriumdopad kalciumoxid (Na-CaO). Katalysatorn syntetiserades utav kalciumhydroxid och natriumhydroxid. Koncentrationen av natriumet låg vid 3 vikt%. Nästa del utav studien gick ut på att testa den syntetiserade katalysatorn och hitta de bästa betingelserna för bästa utbyte av biodiesel. De bästa betingelserna var vid temperaturen 60 °C och ett förhållande mellan rapsolja och metanol på 1:9, där masshalten av katalysator var 2 vikts% gentemot oljan och reaktionstiden var 2 timmar. Detta gav ett utbyte på 97,6 %.