This thesis describes a new method for the synthesis of pseudodisaccharides containing a carbasugar analogue attached to a "true" sugar. The methodology is based on a Diels-Alder cycloaddition of vinyl sugars and appropriately substituted pyran-2-ones, followed by chemical manipulation of the resulting cycloadducts. The thesis also describes the synthesis of inhibitors of Golgi ¿-mannosidase II and glucokinase. The first chapter is a comprehensive survey of the reported synthetic routes to pseudodisaccharides from the literature. The results and discussions are presented in chapter 2. This chapter starts by discussion of the preparation of vinyl sugars and pyran-2-ones and the regio- and stereoselectivity of their cycloadditions. This is followed by reporting the chemical manipulations of these cycloadducts and the synthesis of a pseudodisaccharide. Cycloadducts are shown to lose carbon dioxide at elevated temperatures to afford dihydrobenzenes. The loss of the bridging carbon dioxide from the cycloadducts is experimentally and computationally investigated. The resulting dihydrobenzenes are shown to also be useful as precursors in the synthesis of pseudodisaccharides. The chemical manipulation of these dihydrobenzenes is used towards the synthesis of a pseudodisaccharide. The third and fourth chapters focus on the synthesis of new inhibitors of Golgi ¿-mannosidase II and glucokinase respectively. A range of 6-aminoglucose and mannose derivatives were prepared and tested for the inhibition of Jack bean ¿-mannosidase, but were found to lack any inhibition. Similarly, a range of 6-triazologlucose derivatives were prepared but were found to lack any cytotoxicity. The fifth chapter contains the details of the preparation, experimental procedures and spectroscopic characterisation of the synthesised chemical compounds. Rate calculations are reported in Appendix I and the X-ray crystallographic data are presented in the Appendix II.

No description available.

Currently, 17.1% of 2-19 year olds are obese. While obesity is a multifactorial disease, energy imbalance is commonly cited as a primary etiology. Excess consumption of added sugar (AS) from corn and cane sweeteners has been implicated as a leading contributor to weight gain in youth and adults. Children and adolescents are among the highest consumers of AS, which account for 16% of their total daily calories (~318 calories/d), which is above American Heart Association, World Health Organization, and Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations. Although a strong temporal relationship has been established between weight gain and increased consumption of corn and cane sweeteners, a causal relationship is difficult to determine due to the inherent limitations of self-report dietary assessments (i.e., measurement errors such as underreporting). Further, obtaining accurate dietary intake data from children and adolescents is challenging due to the high dietary variability observed in this population. To overcome the limitations of self-report dietary assessments, the Institute of Medicine has recognized the need to develop and validate objective biomarkers of dietary intake.One such biomarker is the delta (δ) 13C biomarker; preliminary studies suggest that the δ13C biomarker is a valid, objective indicator of AS intake in adults and holds promise for children and adolescents. Establishing δ13C as a valid, reliable and sensitive means for assessing habitual AS intake in children and adolescents provides valuable objective dietary information with the potential to address a pressing public health concern, which is the relationship between AS intake and health. / Master of Science

Around 46.2 million Americans living in rural areas are disproportionately burdened by health disparities. Likewise, obesity and obesity-associated diseases (e.g., diabetes, cardiovascular disease) are much higher for rural residents when compared to their urban counterparts. There is a high need to understand and address the nutritional determinants of these health inequities among adults and adolescents. One area of concern in rural dietary habits pertains to added sugars and more specifically, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB). Excessive added sugars and SSB intake have been strongly linked to many of the nutrition and chronic disease disparities impacting rural residents. Moreover, studies conducted in rural populations have found high consumptions of these in both adults and adolescents. There is an opportunity to better understand added sugars and SSB patterns in rural populations to inform the development of culturally relevant, multi-level interventions that address high consumption. Study #1 is a cross-sectional study that explores top food and beverage sources of added sugars in the diet of adults (n = 301) living in rural areas of Southwest Virginia. Study #2 uses a nationally representative sample of adolescents (n = 1,560) from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health and Eating (FLASHE) study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, to explore factors across the levels of the socioecological model associated with adolescent SSB intake. Study #3 utilizes focus groups and a pilot trial to understand language preferences, acceptability and use of SMS aimed at caregivers to reduce SSB intake in both caregivers and adolescents living in rural areas of Southwest Virginia (n = 33). Collectively, these three studies offer recommendations and culturally relevant strategies for future large-scale trials aimed at reducing SSB intake among adolescents and caregivers in rural communities and ultimately reducing rural health disparities. / Doctor of Philosophy / Rural populations in the United States are at higher risk for being diagnosed with and dying from preventable and obesity-associated diseases like heart disease and cancer. Excessive added sugars and sugary drink (i.e. sodas, sweet tea/coffee, energy drinks, sweetened fruit drinks, sports drinks) intake have been strongly linked to many of the chronic diseases afflicting rural residents. Moreover, studies conducted in rural populations have found high consumptions of these, in both adults and adolescents. There is a great need to better understand added sugars and sugary drink patterns in rural populations so that we can develop programs to reduce consumption that are also culturally well received. Study #1 in this dissertation explores top food and beverage sources of added sugars in the diet of 301 adults living in rural areas of Southwest Virginia. Study #2 uses a nationally representative sample of 1,560 adolescents to explain why adolescent SSB intake might be higher. Study #3 aims to understand language preferences, acceptability and use of a text message program to reduce sugary drink intake in both caregivers and adolescents living in rural areas of Southwest Virginia. Collectively, these three studies offer recommendations and culturally relevant strategies for future large scale trials aimed at reducing sugary drink intake among adolescents and caregivers in rural communities and ultimately improving rural health.

Unsaturated sugars constitute as an important category of carbohydrate precursors in synthesis. Specifically, 1,2- and 2,3-unsaturated glycosides are excellent intermediates to derivatize monosaccharides and as building blocks in organic synthesis. For example, a major utility of 1,2-unsaturated sugars, namely glycals, is the addition reactions to afford 2-deoxy glycosides under acidic conditions and rearrangement reactions to produce 2,3-unsaturated glycosides. Lewis acids favour the formation of 2,3-unsaturated glycosides, whereas, Brønsted acids lead to normal addition products. A mixture of both the product is obtained often, depending on the nucleophiles and the stereochemistry of glycal. Chapter 1 of the thesis describes (i) reactivities of glycals under acidic condition and (ii) a general survey of reactions involving on C2-C3 carbons of monosaccharides. Glycals are useful precursors to derive a number of functionalized monosaccharide derivatives. A well-known acid catalyzed reaction of glycals is their conversion to 2,3¬unsaturated glycosides, known as the Ferrier products. In a research programme, reactivity switching and selective activation of C-1 or C-3 of 2,3-unsaturated thioglycosides under acid catalyzed condition was undertaken. Thioglycosides are excellent glycosyl donors and can be activated easily. In identifying the reactivities of 2,3-unsaturated thioglycosides, obtained through Ce(IV)-mediated reaction of a glycal, it was intended to study the glycosylation reaction and also the reactivity control of C1-C3 carbons during a glycosylation reaction. Experiments showed that a reactivity switching was possible through activation of either C-1 or C-3. Thus, C-1 glycosylation with alcohol acceptors occurred in the presence of NIS/TfOH, without the acceptors reacting at C-3. On the other hand, reaction of 2,3-unsaturated thioglycosides with alcohols mediated by triflic acid alone led to a transposition of C-1 ethylthio-moiety to C-3 intramolecularly, to form 3-ethylthio-glycals. Resulting glycals underwent glycosylation with alcohols to afford 3-ethylthio-2-deoxy glycosides. However, when thiol was used as an acceptor, only a stereoselective addition at C-3 resulted, so as to form C-1, C-3 dithio-substituted 2-deoxypyranosides. Oxocarbenium ion is the reactive intermediate during activation of a glycosyl donor, and in the case of a 2,3-unsaturated thioglycosides, the oxocarbenium ion may stabilize further by the presence of a C2-C3 unsaturation. Reaction of a nucleophile with allylic oxocarbenium ion may lead to two regio-isomers. Initially, NIS/TfOH was attempted on 2,3–unsaturated sugar with various alcohols and it was found that C-1 was the preferred reactive centre (Scheme 1) Scheme 1 In order to optimize the reaction for selective nucleophilic attack at C-3, further study was continued by using stoichiometric TfOH, in presence of acceptors alcohols with the intension to activate the double bond. The reaction led to the formation of 2-deoxy O-glycosides with the concomitant transposition of C-1 ethylthio-moiety to C-3 (Scheme 2). Scheme 2 An important observation was that the transposition of thioethyl group from C-1 to C-3 was highly regioselective. For example, with thiocresol as the nucleophile, there was an addition across the C-2-C-3 double bond to afford C-1, C-3-dithio derivative (Scheme 2). Thus, hard-soft nature of the nucleophiles, as well as, carbon centres helped to rationalize the reactivites. It was also observed that the intramolecular transposition of thioethyl group is highly stereo-controlled by equatorial C-4 acetoxy group. Thus, thioethyl nucleophile approached selectively at C-3 and afforded trans-diequatorial products. This rationalization was further confirmed through (i) reaction of benzyl protected 2,3-unsaturated thioglycoside, wherein a C-3 epimeric mixture was observed in 1:1 ratio; (ii) galactosyl derivative under similar reaction condition afforded anomeric mixture of 3-(4-methylphenylthio)-O-glycosides, with trans-diaxial orientation of substituent at C-3 (Scheme 3). Scheme 3 These reactions confirmed the role of C-4 substituent on the carbocation at C-3, through the presence or absence of a neighbouring group participation. In summary, in Chapter 2 the selective activation of either anomeric carbon or C-3 with proper choice of activation and reactivity control at each carbon will be described. Thioglycosides are excellent glyosyl donor and their glycosylation reactions were well explored. Upon indentifying the intramolecular transposition of thioalkyl/aryl functionality from C-1 to C-3, further investigations was undertaken to utilize the newly formed carbon sulfur bonds at C-3. Realizing a potential for such 3-alkyl/aryl thio 2-deoxy sugar, the Pummerer rearrangement was investigated. For this purpose, the thioalkyl/aryl moiety at C-3 was oxidized first to a sulfoxide. The resulting sulfoxide was allowed to undergo Pummerer rearrangement to afford vinyl sulfide (Scheme 4), resulting from the elimination of HOAc in the thioacetal formed in situ. Having implemented Pummerer rearrangement on a sugar substrate, synthetic utility of the rearrangement product, namely vinyl sulfide was undertaken. An effort to implement conjugate addition reaction was undertaken, which required the conversion of vinyl sulfide to vinyl sulfoxide in the first step. The conjugate addition reactions were first conducted with alkoxide nucleophiles. The reaction showed that addition of nucleophiles occurred from axial face to furnish manno-configured derivatives as a single diastereomer at sulfinyl sulfur in a moderate yield along with O-deacetylated product. It was also found that O-benzyl protected sugar vinyl sulfoxide was totally resistant to the conjugate addition reaction (Scheme 4). Scheme 4 In order to find the influence of the substituents in sulfoxide moiety in the addition of nucleophiles, additional study was conducted in which a less hindered thioethyl moiety was installed in place of p-tolylthio moiety. To install ethylthio moiety, a similar sequence of reaction was undertaken as described previously in Scheme 4. Conjugate addition reaction with alkoxide nucleophiles was conducted and analysis of the reaction showed that the addition of alkoxides remained similar, leading to the formation of manno-configuration of substituents (Scheme 5). Scheme 5 The configuration of the Michael adducts were ascertained from 1H NMR, as well as 2D NMR spectroscopies. H-1 of all adducts appeared as an apparent singlet, consistent with very small J1,2 values. Aryl vinyl sulfoxide afforded conjugate addition product at much higher ratio than corresponding alkyl vinyl sulfoxide. Thus, among aryl and alkyl vinyl sulfoxides, conjugate addition occurred better with the aryl vinyl sulfoxide, indicating a strong electronic effect of aryl group in stabilizing the conjugate anion which would form in situ during nucleophilic addition with vinyl sulfoxide. Therefore, p-tolylthio substituted vinyl sulfoxide served as a more efficient Michael acceptor when compared to the thioethyl substituted vinyl sulfoxide. Asymmetric environment of vinyl sulfoxides play a vital role during the reaction. Vinyl sulfoxides can exist in two stereochemically distinct conformation which makes the vinyl group electronically dissimilar. In one of the conformer S-O and C-C bonds are coplanar, whereas in the other conformation, these two bonds are opposite to each other. It is agreed generally that vinyl sulfoxides generally try to adopt the most reactive conformer during the reaction in which the C-C and S-O bonds are syn to each other. Thus, the preference for an axial attack would originate from a face anti to the lone pair of electrons on the sulfur of sulfoxide functionality, leading to the formation of the product with manno-configuration. As O-deacetylated vinyl sulfoxide was obtained along with the Michael adducts, it was assumed that one of the epimers of vinyl sulfoxide appeared to be more reactive when compared to the other. Chapter 3 describes implementation of a Pummerer rearrangement in order to synthesize a sugar vinyl sulfoxide and its conjugate addition reactions with alkoxide nucleophiles. The nucleophilic addition reactions of vinyl sulfoxide with other nucleophiles were studied further. The effect of the substituents of chiral sulfoxides in conjugate addition reactions was also incorporated in the course of reactions. Reactions of amines, carbon and sulfur nucleophiles were undertaken with p-tolylthio-substituted vinyl sulfoxides. The reactions showed formation of the addition-elimination products (Scheme 6). All primary amines, carbon and sulfur nucleophiles afforded C-2 axial epimer, namely, threo-epimer exclusively, wherein secondary amines furnished the equatorial vs axial epimer in 3:1 ratio. Scheme 6 In order to assess the course of the reaction, vinyl sulfoxide presenting a p-cumenethio¬moiety was installed in place of p-tolylthio moiety. Conjugate addition reactions were performed with both primary as well as secondary amines that showed formation of the C-2 epimeric mixtures. With both the primary and secondary amines C-2 equatorial epimer was found to be as the major product (Scheme 7). Scheme 7 In conjugate addition of vinyl sulfoxides, nucleophiles approach the olefinic face preferentially, which is anti to the electron rich sulfur lone pair of electrons and syn to the bulky aryl group. Therefore, C-2 axial epimer was observed as most favourable product. However, secondary amines remarkably influenced the pattern as well as selectivity of the reaction. Steric considerations were likely to dictate the overall reactivity with secondary amines which was even more pronounced when using p-cumenethio-substituted vinyl sulfoxide. Chapter 4 describes the conjugate additions as well as remote effect of aryl substituent on the selectivity of addition of amines on sugar sulfoxide In summary, the Thesis establishes: A new reactivity of switching and a selective activation of 2,3-unsaturated thioglycoside; A Pummerer rearrangement route in order to synthesize sugar vinyl sulfide for the first time, which on selective oxidation furnish a sugar vinyl sulfoxide, a useful precursor for conjugate addition reactions; An assessment of the stereoelectronic, as well as, steric effect of the chiral vinyl sulfoxide with various nucleophiles in conjugate addition reactions; Influence of the protecting groups were also studied in conjugate addition reactions. Overall the study presented in the Thesis provides a new insight to unsaturated sugars. The salient features of the present findings also showed that the intermediates such as C-3 substituted thioalkyl/aryl glycosides, vinyl sulfides, a variety of new C-2 substituted vinyl sulfoxides are also the potential sites for many types of modifications in monosaccharides. (For structural formula pl see the pdf file)

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering / Donghai Wang / Sweet sorghum accumulates high concentrations of fermentable sugars in the stem, produces significant amount of starch in the grain (panicle) and has shown to be a promising energy feedstock. Sweet sorghum has a short growing season so adding it to the sugar cane system would be good. The overall goal of this dissertation is to enhance the attractiveness of biofuel production from sweet sorghum to fully utilize fermentable sugars in the juice, starch in the panicle and structural carbohydrates in the stalk for high efficiency and low-cost ethanol production. Sweet sorghum juice was incorporated into the dry-grind process which increased ethanol yield by 28% increase of ethanol yield compared to the conventional ethanol method and decreased enzymatic hydrolysis time by 30 minutes. A very high gravity fermentation technique was applied using sweet sorghum juice and sorghum grain yielded 20.25% (v/v) of ethanol and 96% fermentation efficiency. Response surface methodology was applied in order to optimize diffusion conditions and to explore effects of diffusion time, diffusion temperature, and ratio of sweet sorghum biomass to grain on starch-to-sugar efficiency and total sugar recovery from sweet sorghum. Starch hydrolysis efficiency and sugar recovery efficiency of 96 and 98.5% were achieved, respectively, at an optimized diffusion condition of 115 minutes, 95 °C, and 22% grain loading. Extraction kinetics based on the optimized diffusion parameters were developed to describe the mass transfer of sugars in sweet sorghum biomass during the diffusion process. Ethanol obtained from fermented extracted sugars treated with granular starch hydrolyzing enzyme and those with traditional enzymes were comparable (14.5 – 14.6% v/v). Ethanol efficiencies also ranged from 88.92 –92.02%.

Les glycosaminoglycannes (GAGs) sont des molécules polysaccharidiques polysulfatées intervenant dans des processus aussi variés que la prolifération, différenciation ou migration cellulaire, la coagulation sanguine ou l‟infection virale. Il est généralement admis qu‟une séquence particulière de GAG doit être associée à une fonction biologique spécifique. Les structures chimiques globales des GAGs sont connues. Cependant, contrairement au séquençage des gènes ou des protéines, la détermination de la séquence saccharidique exacte impliquée dans une fonction biologique particulière n‟est encore pas possible. Le séquençage « glycomique » constitue donc un enjeu majeur. L‟une des technologies les plus novatrices pour aborder ce problème de séquençage des GAGs semble être l‟impression moléculaire. En effet, elle permet d‟obtenir des polymères (MIPs pour Molecular Imprinted Polymer) spécifiquement imprimés par la forme structurale d‟une molécule cible.En nous appuyant sur des travaux antérieurs réalisés avec des modèles saccharidiques sulfatés simples, nous avons appliqué cette technologie à la reconnaissance de glycannes sulfatés complexes d‟intérêt biologique tels qu‟une héparine de bas poids moléculaire ou un mimétique ayant une activité anticoagulante. Il a été démontré une reconnaissance spécifique et sélective selon la molécule étudiée à l‟aide de MIPs spécialement conçus pour chaque GAG. De plus, nous avons obtenu des MIPs qui, en immobilisant temporairement un sucre, permettraient leur substitution de façon stéréospécifique. La détermination des conditions optimales de synthèse des MIPs s‟est avéré une étape nécessaire à l‟obtention d‟une bonne reconnaissance. Ces travaux ouvrent des perspectives d‟application de la technique d‟impression moléculaire à l‟analyse des séquences de GAGs d‟intérêt biologique / Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are polysulfated polysaccharide molecules involved in many biological processes such as cellular proliferation, differentiation or migration, blood clotting or viral infection. It is generally admitted that a particular GAG sequence is connected to a specific biological function. Depending on their composition in disaccharides, GAGs are classified into subfamilies whose overall chemical structures are known. Unlike gene or protein sequencing, determination of the exact saccharidic sequence involved in a particular biological function is not yet possible with the available technological tools. "Glycomics" is a real challenge nowadays. One of the most innovative technologies to achieve this goal seems to be the molecular imprinting. Indeed, it provides polymers (MIPs for Molecular Imprinted Polymer) imprinted by the structural form of a target molecule.Based on previous studies performed with simple sulfated saccharides, this technology has been applied to the recognition of complex sulfated glycans. MIPs were achieved demonstrating specific and selective recognition for a Low Molecular Weight Heparin or a synthetic anticoagulant mimetic. Other MIPs were able to temporally immobilize sugars which make them available for stereo-specific modifications. Screening of optimal synthesis conditions of MIPs appeared a necessary step to obtain a specific and selective recognition. These studies open further possibilities to analyze GAG sequences carrying biological functions by the molecular imprinting technology

Os carboidratos presentes nos glicoconjugados apresentam alto grau de complexidade e diversidade estrutural, desempenhando um importante papel em diversos processos biológicos. As glucosidases, enzimas responsáveis pela clivagem de ligações O-glicosídicas em oligossacarídeos e glicoconjugados, participam de processos bioquímicos fundamentais do metabolismo e também estão envolvidas na biossíntese de glicoproteínas e glicoesfingolipídeos. Diversos inibidores de glucosidases de origem natural ou sintética têm sido descritos, como por exemplo: acarbose (1), miglitol (2), voglibose (3) e N-butil-desoxi-nojirimicina (4); sendo 1, 2 e 3 indicados para tratamento de diabetes mellitus tipo II e 4 para o controle da doença de Gaucher. Considerando a importância do planejamento e da síntese de novos inibidores de glucosidases, bem como a necessidade de obtenção de modelos tridimensionais para glucosidases, os objetivos deste trabalho foram: i) sintetizar carba-açúcares e pseudodissacarídeos potencialmente anti-glucosidase, ii) avaliar suas atividades inibitórias empregando a enzima ?-D-glucosidase de Saccharomyces cerevisiae e iii) aplicar técnicas de bioinformática e modelagem molecular na construção de um modelo estrutural 3D por homologia da sacarase intestinal de rato e realizar estudos de relação estrutura-atividade baseado no padrão farmacofórico calculado para os inibidores descritos. Neste sentido, a partir do precursor-chave (3/2,4)-2,3,4-tri-O-benzil-5-hidroxi-cicloexanona (12), obtido em 6 etapas, foram sintetizados diferentes carba-açúcares. Adicionalmente, reações de aminação redutiva, rearranjo alílico e \"click chemistry\" foram empregadas na síntese dos pseudodissacarídeos inéditos 3-(2,4-dibenziloxi-fenilamino)-2,4,6-tri-O-benzil-3-desoxi-?-D-glucopiranosídeo de metila (81), 1-(2\',3\',4\'-tri-O-benzil-5\'-oxo-cicloexanil)-4,6-di-O-acetil-2,3-didesoxi-hex-2-enopiranosídeo (89) e 2-{4-[(1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-il)metoxi]-2,4-di-O-benzil-fenila}-1,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetil-2-desoxi-?-D-glucopiranosídeo (99), respectivamente. O composto (3/2,4)-2,3,4,5-tetraidroxi-cicloexanona (46) foi submetido a estudos de inibição enzimática e apresentou moderada atividade de inibição da enzima ?-D-glucosidase. As simulações de docking com o modelo construído da sacarase de rato bem como a determinação do padrão farmacofórico forneceram novas informações estruturais sobre o sítio ativo desta enzima e do modo de ligação de diferentes inibidores. Portanto, as estratégias sintéticas, os estudos de cinética enzimática e de modelagem molecular realizados durante o trabalho resultaram em contribuições relevantes no que diz respeito à química de carboidratos, permitindo avaliar potenciais inibidores da enzima ?-glucosidase in silico, os quais poderão ser sintetizados e submetidos a novos ensaios enzimáticos. / Carbohydrates of glycoconjugates display high degree of complexity and structural diversity, playing a central role in biological processes. Glucosidases are enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of glycosidic bonds in oligosaccharides or glycoconjugates, being essentials in several metabolic pathways and in the biosynthesis of glycoproteins and glycosfingolipids. Several glucosidase inhibitors from natural and synthetic sources have been described, such as: acarbose (1), miglitol (2), voglibose (3) and N-butyl-desoxy-nojirimycin (4). Compounds 1, 2 and 3 are used in the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus and 4 for patients with Gaucher\'s disease. Concerning to the importance of the design and synthesis of new glucosidase inhibitors, as well as the need of 3D models for glucosidases, the aims of this work were: i) the synthesis of potentially anti-glucosidase carba-sugars and pseudodisaccharides, ii) the evaluation of its inhibitory activities by using ?-D-glucosidase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and iii) the use of bioinformatics and molecular modeling techniques for creation of a 3D structural homology model of rat intestinal sucrase to accomplish the structure-activity relationships studies concerning to the pharmacophoric pattern of the reported inhibitors. Thus, starting with the key precursor 12, prepared in six steps, different carba-sugars were synthesized. Additionally, reductive amination reactions, allylic rearrangement and \"click chemistry\" were applied on the synthesis of novel pseudosaccharides 81, 89 and 99, respectively. Compound 46 was assayed for enzymatic inhibition and demonstrated reasonable activity for the inhibition of ?-D-glucosidase. Docking simulations by using the rat sucrase model and the determination of pharmacophoric pattern provided significant information concerning to the enzyme\'s active site and the inhibitor\'s binding pattern. Therefore, the synthetic strategies, enzymatic kinetic assays and molecular modeling studies performed in this work resulted in relevant contributions to the carbohydrate chemistry, making possible for our research group to evaluate potential ?-glucosidase inhibitors in silico, which can be synthesized and assayed for enzymatic activity in the future.

É consenso entre enólogos que o glicerol contribui para o corpo e sabor adocicado dos vinhos, por analogia, propôs-se investigar a presença e o papel do glicerol em aguardentes de cana. O método adaptado para a quantificação de glicerol, que envolveu a derivatização das amostras com cloreto de benzoíla, uma posterior etapa de extração em fase sólida (SPE) para clean-up das amostras e análise via HPLC-DAD, apresentou boa sensibilidade (limites de detecção e quantificação iguais a 0,25 e 0,74 mg L-1, respectivamente), exatidão de 97,5 % e precisão de 93,5 %. A reação de derivatização entre glicerol e o cloreto de benzoíla, estudada por cromatografia líquida hifenada a espectrometria de massas, foi quantitativa com esterificação das três hidroxilas da molécula. Antes de se avaliar a influência do glicerol no sabor doce da cachaça, as concentrações de açúcares totais foram medidas empregando-se o método DNS (limites de detecção e quantificação iguais a 37 e 125 mg L-1, respectivamente). Verificou-se que não houve uma relação entre os teores de glicerol e açúcares totais com a nota doce, determinada a partir de análise sensorial das amostras, para o conjunto de amostras não adoçado. Com base em um teste triangular não houve diferença sensorial significativa entre uma cachaça sem glicerol e outra com glicerol numa concentração de até 35 g L-1. A mediana do teor de glicerol detectado em 51 amostras de cachaça foi de 4,3 mg L-1. A mediana dos teores de açúcares totais para 59 amostras de cachaça não adoçada foi abaixo do limite de quantificação. A mediana dos teores de açúcares totais para 8 amostras de cachaça adoçada foi de 17 g L-1, expressos em glicose. / There is a consensus among enologists that glycerol contributes to the body and sweet taste of wine, by analogy; it was proposed to investigate the presence and role of glycerol in sugar cane spirits. The adapted method for glycerol quantification, which involved the samples derivatization with benzoyl chloride, a further solid phase extraction (SPE) step for samples clean-up and analysis by HPLC-DAD showed good sensitivity (limits of detection and quantification of 0.25 and 0.74 mg L-1, respectively), 97.5 % of accuracy and 93.5 % of precision. The derivatization reaction between glycerol and benzoyl chloride, studied through liquid chromatography hyphenated to mass spectrometry, was quantitative with esterification of the three hydroxyls of the molecule. Before evaluating the influence of glycerol in cachaça\'s sweet taste, total sugar concentrations were measured by DNS method (limits of detection and quantification were 37 and 125 mg L-1, respectively). It was verified that there was no correlation between the contents of glycerol and total sugars with the sweet score, determined by the samples sensory analysis, to the samples which no sugar was added. Based on a triangular test, there was no significant sensory difference between a cachaça without glycerol and another with glycerol concentration up to 35 g L-1. The median glycerol concentration detected in 51 samples of cachaça was 4.3 mg L-1. The median level of total sugars for 59 samples of cachaça without sugar addition was below the limit of quantification. The median level of total sugar for 8 samples of cachaça with sugar addition was 17 g L-1, expressed as glucose.

Neste trabalho, foram desenvolvidos métodos para determinação de espécies neutras por eletroforese capilar (CE) com detecção condutométrica sem contato (CCD). Estratégias baseadas em eletroforese capilar em solução livre (FSCE) e cromatografia micelar eletrocinética (MEKC) foram utilizadas em três casos: misturas de álcoois alifáticos, misturas de açúcares e salbutamol. Estas substâncias foram escolhidas por apresentarem ampla distribuição de características químicas. Os n-álcoois possuem regiões polares e apoIares distintas ao longo da cadeia carbônica, sendo que em solução aquosa se apresentam invariavelmente como espécies neutras. Os açúcares, apesar das longas cadeias carbônicas, possuem grande número de hidroxilas uniformemente distribuídas e podem ser ionizados a valores elevados de pH. Já o salbutamol, pode ser encontrado como espécie catiônica, neutra ou aniônica, dependendo do pH do meio. A melhor aproximação para os álcoois foi MEKC, que permitiu a separação e detecção da ordem de 10-4 mol·L-1 para cinco isômeros de pentanol. A utilização de eletrólito de corrida com pH 12,1 permitiu a determinação de frutose, glicose, galactose e sacarose da ordem de 10-5 moI&middotL-1 por FSCE em capilares de 20 µm. Salbutamol pode ser detectado como cátion e ânion em FSCE em limites de detecção da ordem de dez vezes menores que aquele obtido para a espécie neutra por MEKC. Como o mecanismo pelo qual ocorre a detecção condutométrica em MEKC não era ainda bem conhecido, foram desenvolvidos experimentos que ajudassem a elucidá-Io. Medidas de condutividade, viscosidade e análise de impedância de soluções tampão com dodecilsulfato de sódio (SDS) com n-álcoois e experimentos com soluções similares em MEKC demonstraram que a resposta observada com CCD é bastante complexa, pois vários fenômenos contribuem para o comportamento da condutividade na região dos analitos. Os principais fenômenos, os quais não estavam sendo devidamente considerados em modelos anteriores, são a dissociação e a ionização provocadas pelos analitos sobre as micelas. Estes fenômenos seriam particularmente significativos para as mobilidades das espécies envolvidas nas micelas, provocando a propagação de vacâncias que seriam então detectadas. / In the present work, analytical methods for determination of neutral species based on capillary electrophoresis (CE) with contactless conductivity detection (CCD) were developed. Free solution capillary electrophoresis (FSCE) and micelar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) were applied to three cases: mixtures of aliphatic alcohols, mixtures of sugars, and salbutamol. These substances were selected due to their distinctiveness. The alcohols have well-defined polar and apoIar regions in their carbonic chain and are typical non-ionic species in aqueous medium. The sugars have a great number of hydroxyl groups along the carbonic chain, which give a polar nature and can be ionized at high pH values. The salbutamol is amphoteric. The best approach for the alcohols was MEKC that allowed separation of five pentanol isomers with limit of detection of 10-4 mol·L-1. A running electrolyte with pH 12.1 allowed determination of 10-5 mol·L-1 of fructose, glucose, galactose, and sucrose, using FSCE with 20-µm inner diameter capillary. The sensitivity for the cationic and anionic forms of albuterol in FSCE was about ten times greater than that one achieved by MEKC for the neutral species. Since the conductivity detection in MEKC was not clearly understood, some experiments were carried out in order to improve the knowledge about it. Conductivity and viscosity measurement as well as impedance analysis of buffered sodium dodecyl sulfate solution with n-alcohols and experiments using similar conditions in MEKC showed that CCD response is complex, because several phenomena contribute to the solution conductivity in the region of the analytes. The main phenomena, which are not properly considered in the previous models, are the effects of the analytes on the dissociation and ionization of the micelles. These phenomena would be responsible for the vacancies detected as negative peaks, which would be formed by the augment of the mobilities of the species involved in the micelle formation.