Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are contaminants of emerging concern, and have been detected in drinking water, wildlife, humans, and the environment. Cyclodextrins (CDs), cyclic sugars composed of glucose monomers, are proposed as a potential remediation strategy. CDs can form host-guest complexes with hydrophobic molecules; this complexation could be capitalized on for PFAS removal and sequestration. These dissertation projects aim to study the fundamental host-guest interactions between a variety of PFASs and CDs for eventual applications in environmental and biological remediation. 1D and 2D Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic methods were employed to determine the strength, dynamics, and structure of the CD:PFAS host-guest complexes. Legacy and emerging PFASs were studied with the three native CDs (α-, β-, and γ-CDs) as well as β-CD derivatives. β-CD and its derivatives exhibit the strongest complexation with all studied PFASs, with association constants of 102-105 M-1, depending on PFAS chain length, functional groups, and branching. The host-guest complex was not significantly disturbed under different environmental conditions, such as changing pH, ionic strength, and in the presence of humic acid. A competition study between perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), β-CD, and human serum albumin (HSA), the most abundant protein in blood serum, was then conducted using NMR, circular dichroism, and fluorescence spectroscopies. Excess β-CD was able to totally reverse all PFOA binding to HSA. Finally, the host-guest complex was studied within a biological organism to test its viability as a remediation strategy. The attenuation of the toxicity of PFOA in zebrafish embryos, a model organism for toxicology studies, was tested with β-CD. Excess β-CD increased the LC50 (lethal concentration for 50 % of the population) of PFOA compared to PFOA in the absence of β-CD (p < 0.0001). These dissertation projects suggest that the encapsulation of PFASs by CDs has potential in PFAS remediation strategies.

<p>Various chemical properties can be used to characterise dissolving pulp. The quality of the pulp must be carefully controlled to ensure that it meets the requirements for its intended use and the further processes to be applied. If it is to be used to prepare viscose, or other cellulose derivatives, the key prop-erties of the pulp are its accessibility and reactivity. The studies described in this thesis investigated the potential utility of multivariate analysis of chemi-cal and spectral data for determining the properties of dissolving pulp. Dis-solving pulps produced by a two-stage sulfite process, both in the laboratory and a factory were produced pulps for this purpose. The analyses showed that pulp with high reactivity had short cellulose chains, low molecular weight, low polydispersity, low hemicellulose content, high content of ace-tone-extractable compounds, and high surface charge compared to pulp with low reactivity. Important chemical properties of the pulp, such as viscosity and alkali resistance, were successfully predicted from near infrared spectra. Predicting the reactivity, or the viscose filterability, of the pulp was more complex. Several chemical methods for analyzing the reactivity of the pulp were examined. The influence of the cellulose structure at the supermolecu-lar level on the reactivity of the pulp was explored by multivariate analysis of solid state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. Structural variables considered included: differences in hydrogen bonding, contents of hemicel-lulose, amorphous cellulose and crystalline cellulose I and II. Pulps with high reactivity have higher contents of cellulose I and amorphous cellulose than pulps with low reactivity, which have higher contents of cellulose II and hemicellulose.</p>

<p>Glycoconjugates are biologically important molecules with diverse functions. They consist of carbohydrates of varying size and complexity, attached to a non-sugar moiety as a lipid or a protein. Glycoconjugate structures are often very complex and their intricate biosynthetic pathways makes overexpression difficult. This renders the isolation of pure, structurally defined compounds from natural sources cumbersome. Therefore, to better address questions in glycobiology, synthetic glycoconjugates are an appealing alternative. In addition, synthetic methods allow for the preparation of non-natural glycoconjugates that can enhance the understanding of the influence of structural features on the biological responses.</p><p>In this thesis, synthetic methods for the preparation of glycoconjugates, especially glycolipid analogues, have been developed. These methods make use of solid-phase chemistry and are amenable to library synthesis of series of similar compounds. Solid-phase synthesis is a technique where the starting material of the reaction is attached to small plastic beads through a linker. This allows large excess of reagents to speed up the reactions and the sometimes difficult purifications of intermediate products are reduced to simple washings of the beads.</p><p>One problem with solid-phase synthesis is the difficulties to monitor the reactions and characterize the intermediate products. Gel-phase 19 F-NMR spectroscopy, using fluorinated linkers and protecting groups, is an excellent tool to overcome this problem and to monitor solid-phase synthesis of e.g. glycoconjugates. Two novel fluorinated linkers for the attachment of carboxylic acids have been developed and are presented in the thesis. These linkers can be cleaved with both acids of varying strengths and nucleophiles like hydroxide ions, and they are stable to glycosylation conditions. In addition, a novel filter reactor for solid-phase synthesis was designed. The reactor fits into an ordinary NMR spectrometer to facilitate the reaction monitoring with gel-phase 19 F-NMR spectroscopy.</p><p>The biological applications of the synthesized glycolipids were demonstrated in two different settings. The CD1d restricted binding of glycolipids carrying the monosaccharide α-GalNAc as carbohydrate could be detected on viable cells of mouse origin. CD1d is one of several antigen presenting molecules (the CD1 proteins) that presents lipids and glycolipids to circulating T-cells that in turn can initiate an immune response. The CD1 molecules are relatively sparsely investigated, and the method to measure glycolipid binding on viable cells, as described in the thesis, has the possibility to greatly enhance the knowledge of the structural requirements for CD1-binding.</p><p>Serine-based neoglycolipids with terminal carboxylic acids were used to prepare glycoconjugate arrays with covalent bonds to secondary amines on microtiter plates. Carbohydrate arrays have great possibilities to simplify the study of interactions between carbohydrates and e.g. proteins and microbes. The usefulness of the glycolipid arrays constructed in the thesis was illustrated with two lectins, RCA120 from Ricinus communis and BS-1 from Bandeiraea simplicifolia. Both lectins bound to the array of neoglycolipids in agreement with their respective specificity for galactosides.</p><p>Glycobiology is a large area of great interest and the methods described in this thesis can be used to answer a variety of glycoconjugaterelated biological questions.</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>

Various chemical properties can be used to characterise dissolving pulp. The quality of the pulp must be carefully controlled to ensure that it meets the requirements for its intended use and the further processes to be applied. If it is to be used to prepare viscose, or other cellulose derivatives, the key prop-erties of the pulp are its accessibility and reactivity. The studies described in this thesis investigated the potential utility of multivariate analysis of chemi-cal and spectral data for determining the properties of dissolving pulp. Dis-solving pulps produced by a two-stage sulfite process, both in the laboratory and a factory were produced pulps for this purpose. The analyses showed that pulp with high reactivity had short cellulose chains, low molecular weight, low polydispersity, low hemicellulose content, high content of ace-tone-extractable compounds, and high surface charge compared to pulp with low reactivity. Important chemical properties of the pulp, such as viscosity and alkali resistance, were successfully predicted from near infrared spectra. Predicting the reactivity, or the viscose filterability, of the pulp was more complex. Several chemical methods for analyzing the reactivity of the pulp were examined. The influence of the cellulose structure at the supermolecu-lar level on the reactivity of the pulp was explored by multivariate analysis of solid state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. Structural variables considered included: differences in hydrogen bonding, contents of hemicel-lulose, amorphous cellulose and crystalline cellulose I and II. Pulps with high reactivity have higher contents of cellulose I and amorphous cellulose than pulps with low reactivity, which have higher contents of cellulose II and hemicellulose.

Structure elucidation of charge delocalised carotenoid mono- and dications by NMR and VIS/NIR spectroscopy. Studies of the nucleophilic reactions of these cations. Studies of the β,β-carotene-iodine complex. Isolation and anmalysis of new carotenoid glucoside esters from extremophilic bacteria.

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.

The appropriate lipid environment is crucial for the proper function of membrane proteins. There is a tremendous variety of lipid molecules in the membrane and so far it is often unclear which component of the lipid matrix is essential for the function of a respective protein. Lipid molecules and proteins mutually influence each other; parameters such as acyl chain order, membrane thickness, membrane elasticity, permeability, lipid-domain and annulus formation are strongly modulated by proteins. More recent data also indicates that the influence of proteins goes beyond a single annulus of next-neighbor boundary lipids. Therefore, a mesoscopic approach to membrane lipid-protein interactions in terms of elastic membrane deformations has been developed. Solid-state NMR has greatly contributed to the understanding of lipid-protein interactions and the modern view of biological membranes. Methods that detect the influence of proteins on the membrane as well as direct lipid-protein interactions have been developed and are reviewed here. Examples for solid-state NMR studies on the interaction of Ras proteins, the antimicrobial peptide protegrin-1, the G protein-coupled receptor rhodopsin, and the K+ channel KcsA are discussed.

Συστηματική μελέτη πυριτικών, πυριτίου-ασβεστίου και φωσφοπυριτικών γυαλιών, με σύσταση 80 SiO2 - (20-x) Na2O - x Me2O (όπου x=0, 10 και Me=Li ή K), 48.7SiO2 - 26.9CaO - (24.4-x) Na2O - x Me2O (όπου x=0, 12.2 και Me=Li ή K) και 46.1 SiO2 - 2.6 P2O5 - 26.9 CaO - (24.4-x) Na2O - x Me2O (όπου x=0, 12.2 και Me=Li ή K), γίνεται με φασματοσκοπικές τεχνικές πυρηνικού μαγνητικού συντονισμού MAS NMR (Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) και MQ–MAS NMR (Multiple Quantum-MAS NMR). Η 29Si MAS NMR ανάλυση του Na2O πυριτικού γυαλιού έδειξε την ύπαρξη δύο κορυφών, οι οποίες αποδίδονται σε Q3 και Q4 πυριτικές δομές. Η υποκατάσταση Na από Κ διατηρεί τις Q3 και Q4 δομές ενώ στο Na2O-Li2O γυαλί, παρατηρήθηκαν τρεις κορυφές, οι οποίες αποδίδονται σε Q3, Q4-3 και Q4-4 πυριτικές δομές. H Q4-4 είναι σχετικά στενή και υποδηλώνει έναρξη κρυστάλλωσης του δικτύου λόγω της μικρής έντασης του σήματος. Στο γυαλί Na2O πυριτίου-ασβεστίου, η ανάλυση οδήγησε σε δυο κορυφές οι οποίες αποδίδονται σε Q1 και Q2 δομές, ενώ στο Na2O-K2O γυαλί, το φάσμα αναλύθηκε μόνο μια κορυφή που αντιπροσωπεύει Q2 πυριτικές δομές. Από την άλλη, στο γυαλί Na2O-Li2O, παρατηρήθηκαν δύο κορυφές οι οποίες αντιστοιχούν σε Q2 και Q3 δομές. Στο Na2O φωσφοπυριτικό γυαλί, η ανάλυση οδήγησε στις κορυφές που αποδίδονται σε Q2 και Q3 δομές. Η 23Na MQ-MAS NMR ανάλυση στο Na2O πυριτικό γυαλί οδήγησε στην παρουσία δύο ιοντικών περιοχών νατρίου (site 1: δiso= 5.1 ppm, CQ= 0.96 MHz, ΔCS= 20 ppm και site 2: δiso= 1.9 ppm, CQ= 3.06 MHz, ΔCS= 20 ppm). Η υποκατάσταση Na από Li ή Κ διατηρεί τις δύο ιοντικές περιοχές στα γυαλιά. Στο γυαλί Na2O πυριτίου-ασβεστίου, η ανάλυση οδήγησε μόνο σε μια ιοντική περιοχή η οποία είναι η site 2 (δiso= 5.4 ppm, CQ= 2.83 MHz, ΔCS= 17 ppm). Στα υπόλοιπα γυαλιά δεν παρατηρούνται διαφορές κατά την υποκατάσταση Na από Li ή Κ. Στο 24.4 Na2O φωσφοπυριτικό γυαλί παρατηρήθηκαν τρεις ιοντικές περιοχές (site 1: δiso= 6.0 ppm, CQ= 1.4 MHz, ΔCS= 20 ppm, site 2: δiso= 6.8 ppm, CQ= 2.6 MHz, ΔCS= 20 ppm, και site 3: δiso= 6.6 ppm, CQ= 1.2 MHz, ΔCS= 1 ppm). Η υποκατάσταση Na από Li ή Κ οδήγησε στην απουσία της τρίτης και πιο ισχυρής ιοντικής περιοχής (site 3). Πιθανολογούμε ότι η απουσία της σχετίζεται με την τροποποίηση του δικτύου που προέρχεται από την εισαγωγή του φωσφόρου στο υαλώδες δίκτυο. Η μελέτη μας επεκτάθηκε και στην μοριακή προσομοίωση των γυαλιών των τριών οικογενειών με την βοήθεια του προγράμματος Gaussian 03W. Πρώτα έγινε η γεωμετρική προσομοίωση του πλέγματος και μετά η προσομοίωση των NMR παραμέτρων με την χρήση της DFT μεθόδου (Density Functional Theory) και με τις βάσεις 6-311++G, 6-31G και 3-21++G. Οι δομές που προέκυψαν έδωσαν μια εικόνα του πυριτικού, πυριτίου-ασβεστίου και φωσφοπυριτικού υαλώδους δικτύου. Οι δομές των αλκαλίων αποτελούνται από τετραεδρικής, εξαεδρικής και οκταεδρικής συμμετρίας κυψελίδες. Μετά από υπολογισμούς διαφόρων πιθανών δομών καταλήξαμε στις δομές για την ερμηνεία των φασμάτων σε εκείνες που υπάρχει καλή συμφωνία μεταξύ των θεωρητικών και πειραματικών 23Na NMR αποτελεσμάτων. Συγκεκριμένα, η site 2 προέρχεται από ένα 23Na σε XXX-εδρικό περιβάλλον. Η site 3 μπορεί να προέρχεται από οκταεδρικούς σχηματισμούς υψηλής συμμετρίας των ιόντων Na γιατί αυτές οι περιοχές οδηγούν με βάση τους υπολογισμούς μας σε περιβάλλον με αυξημένη ιοντική ισχύ και συμμετρία. / Silicate, calcium-silicate and phosphosilicate glasses of the composition 80 SiO2 - (20-x) Na2O - x Me2O (where x=0, 10 and Me=Li or K), 48.7SiO2 - 26.9CaO - (24.4-x) Na2O - xMe2O (where x=0, 12.2 and Me=Li or K) and 46.1 SiO2 - 2.6 P2O5 - 26.9 CaO - (24.4-x) Na2O - x Me2O (where x=0, 12.2 and Me=Li or K), have been investigated using the advanced NMR methods of MAS NMR (Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and MQ-MAS NMR (Multiple Quantum-MAS NMR). The 29Si MAS NMR analysis of the sodium silicate glass revealed two lines attributed to Q3 and Q4 silicate species. Substitution of Na with K conserves the Q3 and Q4 species while in the Na2O-Li2O glass, three lines were obtained attributed to Q3, Q4-3 and Q4-4 species. The Q4-4 signal is attributed to initial stage of crystallization due to the narrow size distribution and low intensity. In the sodium calcium-silicate glass, two lines were resolved assigned to Q1 and Q2, while in the Na2O-K2O glass, only one line was resolved attributed to Q2 species. For the Na2O-Li2O glass, two lines were revealed assigned to Q2 and Q3. In the sodium phosphosilicate glass, the analysis revealed two lines ascribed to Q2 and Q3. The 23Na MQ-MAS NMR analysis in the sodium silicate glass exhibits two Na ionic sites (site 1: δiso= 5.1 ppm, CQ= 0.96 MHz, ΔCS= 20 ppm and site 2: δiso= 1.9 ppm, CQ= 3.06 MHz, ΔCS= 20 ppm). Substitution of Na with Li or K conserves the two sites in the glasses. For the sodium calcium-silicate glass, the analysis revealed only one site (site 2: δiso= 5.4 ppm, CQ= 2.83 MHz, ΔCS= 17 ppm). No difference was observed by the substitution of Na with Li or K in the glasses. In the 24.4 Na2O phosphosilicate glass three sites were obtained with: site 1 (δiso= 6.0 ppm, CQ= 1.4 MHz, ΔCS= 20 ppm), site 2 (δiso= 6.8 ppm, CQ= 2.6 MHz, ΔCS= 20 ppm), site 3 (δiso= 6.6 ppm, CQ= 1.2 MHz, ΔCS= 1 ppm). The substitution of Na with Li or K resulted in the absence of the third and most ionic site, which is probably associated with the presence of phosphorus in the glassy network. Our study was completed by the molecular simulation of the three types of glasses, for which the Gaussian 03W program was used. For the geometrical optimization and the optimization of the NMR parameters was used the DFT (Density Functional Theory) method and the 6-311++G, 6-31G, and 3-21++G basis sets. The resulting structures gave an insight into the silicate, calcium-silicate and phosphosilicate glassy network. These structures consist of tetrahedral, hexahedral, and octahedral symmetry shells which enclose the alkali ions. The good agreement between the theoretical and experimental 23Na NMR results leads to the depiction of the Na ionic sites and especially of site 2. This site was attributed to sodium in XXX-coordination. Concerning site 3, was observed that the increased ionic strength of the site could possible be ascribed to high symmetry octahedral configurations of Na ions.

Glycoconjugates are biologically important molecules with diverse functions. They consist of carbohydrates of varying size and complexity, attached to a non-sugar moiety as a lipid or a protein. Glycoconjugate structures are often very complex and their intricate biosynthetic pathways makes overexpression difficult. This renders the isolation of pure, structurally defined compounds from natural sources cumbersome. Therefore, to better address questions in glycobiology, synthetic glycoconjugates are an appealing alternative. In addition, synthetic methods allow for the preparation of non-natural glycoconjugates that can enhance the understanding of the influence of structural features on the biological responses. In this thesis, synthetic methods for the preparation of glycoconjugates, especially glycolipid analogues, have been developed. These methods make use of solid-phase chemistry and are amenable to library synthesis of series of similar compounds. Solid-phase synthesis is a technique where the starting material of the reaction is attached to small plastic beads through a linker. This allows large excess of reagents to speed up the reactions and the sometimes difficult purifications of intermediate products are reduced to simple washings of the beads. One problem with solid-phase synthesis is the difficulties to monitor the reactions and characterize the intermediate products. Gel-phase 19 F-NMR spectroscopy, using fluorinated linkers and protecting groups, is an excellent tool to overcome this problem and to monitor solid-phase synthesis of e.g. glycoconjugates. Two novel fluorinated linkers for the attachment of carboxylic acids have been developed and are presented in the thesis. These linkers can be cleaved with both acids of varying strengths and nucleophiles like hydroxide ions, and they are stable to glycosylation conditions. In addition, a novel filter reactor for solid-phase synthesis was designed. The reactor fits into an ordinary NMR spectrometer to facilitate the reaction monitoring with gel-phase 19 F-NMR spectroscopy. The biological applications of the synthesized glycolipids were demonstrated in two different settings. The CD1d restricted binding of glycolipids carrying the monosaccharide α-GalNAc as carbohydrate could be detected on viable cells of mouse origin. CD1d is one of several antigen presenting molecules (the CD1 proteins) that presents lipids and glycolipids to circulating T-cells that in turn can initiate an immune response. The CD1 molecules are relatively sparsely investigated, and the method to measure glycolipid binding on viable cells, as described in the thesis, has the possibility to greatly enhance the knowledge of the structural requirements for CD1-binding. Serine-based neoglycolipids with terminal carboxylic acids were used to prepare glycoconjugate arrays with covalent bonds to secondary amines on microtiter plates. Carbohydrate arrays have great possibilities to simplify the study of interactions between carbohydrates and e.g. proteins and microbes. The usefulness of the glycolipid arrays constructed in the thesis was illustrated with two lectins, RCA120 from Ricinus communis and BS-1 from Bandeiraea simplicifolia. Both lectins bound to the array of neoglycolipids in agreement with their respective specificity for galactosides. Glycobiology is a large area of great interest and the methods described in this thesis can be used to answer a variety of glycoconjugaterelated biological questions.