No description available.

Thesis (M. Med. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-65).

Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-65). Also available in print.

No description available.

This thesis introduces the idea of Band Theory and how it can be used to describe a solid-state materials ability to carry an electrical charge. Next, this thesis defines what makes a material a conductor, semiconductor, or insulator. Semiconductors are attracting interest in chemistry, as well as in the manufacturing of consumer electronics, because of their ability to carry a charge, without the risk of short-circuiting like traditional conductors.1,4 Organic semiconductors, which behave differently than traditional semiconductors, are of particular interest because they offer mechanical flexibility, lowcost, simplicity, and the ability to be manufactures at low temperatures.6 Nonorganic and organic semiconductors can be enhanced by a process called doping, which is further explained within this thesis. This thesis will focus on the unique properties and advantages that heterocycles, particularly thiophene and thiophene derivative complexes, and cyclopenta[c]thiophenes offer in the manufacturing of organic semiconductors. One area of thiophene research that has showed promise in leading to mass production of semiconductors derived from thiophene complexes is the use of thiophenes with electron withdrawing groups attached to the two and five position.26-27 In a recent publication in the Journal of Sulfur Chemistry a novel approach for developing thiophene derivatives was successfully investigated.27-31 This novel approach will be explained, and a successful synthetic route using 2,5-dimethylthiophene as a starting material will be provided. This thesis also explored using 2,5-dichlorothiophene and 2,5- dibromothiophene as novel starting materials in the previously successful route utilizing 2,5-dimethylthiophene. Unfortunately, however, this area of research was unsuccessful; therefore, research shifted towards the development of the lactone 1,3-Dimethyl-7,8- dihydro-4H-thieno[3,4-c]oxepin-6-one, which is one of the many products needed for the newly proposed synthetic route of manufacturing cyclopenta[c]thiophenes utilizing a much shorter route than previously attempted. Even more importantly, the synthetic route that was attempted is filled with mostly fundamental bedrock organic chemistry that can be pulled straight from a textbook. Research stopped at the lactone due to time constraints; however, this creates an opportunity for ongoing research for future undergraduate and graduate students.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a highly contagious disease caused by the bacterium known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis which is widely spread in South Africa, especially in the rural areas of the Western Province. Rifampicin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide are the three most effective drugs against this organism. However, most of the current commercial anti-TB formulations are inconvenient to administrate. This results in patient non-compliance which has increased with incomplete tuberculosis treatment and further has intensified the mortality rate. The matter is especially severe amongst the paediatric and geriatric patients. Therefore, creating a "user-friendly" but non-alcoholic liquid formulation should improve the whole situation. The key to a successful formulation relies on sufficient concentrations of the drugs within the formulation together with acceptable stability of these drugs. Therefore, during the pre-formulation stage, the solubility and stability studies of rifampicin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide are to be conducted. Rifampicin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide were fully characterized and identified by means of spectroscopic and thermal techniques. A HPLC method for simultaneous analysis of the three drugs was developed and validated. This HPLC method was employed for all the solubility and stability assessments. Unbuffered HPLC water of pH value 7.01 was chosen as the aqueous solvent. This was decided after the stability of rifampicin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide was studied at a pH range of 2 to 10. The solubility and the stability studies of rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, rifampicin with isoniazid, rifampicin with pyrazinamide, isoniazid with pyrazinamide and rifampicin combined with both isoniazid and pyrazinamide were performed in the presence of various agents. These agents can be categorized into three groups: the surfactants (poloxamer 188, poloxamer 407 and sorbitol) which could increase the intrinsic solubility or the drugs by altering the surface tensions of the aqueous solution medium, the suspending agents (carbopol 934 and carbopol 974P) which could enable the amount of dosage required to be homogeneously suspended in the formulation without considering the low intrinsic solubility factor of the drugs, and the complexing agents (ß-cyclodextrin, hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin and -cyclodextrin) which could initiated the inclusion complex between the host cyclodextrin and the drugs, thus further enhance the solubility of the drugs . The stability assessments were performed after 7-days stability trail with the HPLC method developed. Each drug/combination of drugs were stored in closed ampoules and subjected to 25, 40 and 60° C with or without nitrogen flushing while in the presence of the above mentioned agents. While assessing the solubility/stability of the drugs in the presence of the above mentioned surfactants, the phase-solubility curves indicate that both rifampicin and pyrazinamide fail to achieve the desired concentration. Moreover, the stability-time plots clearly indicate that these surfactants fail to enhance the general stabilities of the drugs. When the stabilizing effects of the above mentioned suspending agents were investigated, it was found that although the desired concentration could be easily accomplished by suspending the drug in the aqueous carbopol solutions, the stabilities of the different drug combinations were still below the regulatory level. Cyclodextrins are well known to form inclusion complexes with less polar drug molecules. The inclusion complexation could enhance both the solubility and the stability of the included drug molecules. The computer force field generated models of the cyclodextrin-drug were used to predict the complexation sites. The results indicated the all the inclusion complexation between the drugs and the cyclodextrins were favourable, but do not necessary protect the potential degradation sites of the drugs. The stability results confirmed the above findings as the cyclodextrins did not enhance the stability of the drugs. Various drug-drug interaction pathways were also predicted from the experimental observations which clearly indicated the stability reductions of these drugs in combination. This leads to the conclusion that a liquid formulation combining rifampicin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide should not initiate the use of aqueous solutions as the protic ions of the solution are able to initiate the degradation of these drugs.

Magneto-structural correlations have been made for a number of pyridine and pyrazine complexes of iron(II) and copper(Il), involving anions of a range of coordinating abilities, for example, sulfonate, RS0₃⁻ (where R is CF₃, CH₃ or p-CH₃C₆H₄); halide, Cl⁻ Br⁻ or I⁻; pseudohalide, NCO⁻ or NCS⁻; perchlorate and hexafluoroarsenate. Structure was determined by infrared, electronic and Mössbauer spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, and, in some instances, by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Spectroscopic results were used to investigate the nature of both anion and neutral ligand coordination. In complexes of stoichiometry ML₄ (RS0₃)₂ (where M is Fe or Cu, L is pyridine, pyrazine or 2-methylpyrazine and R is CF₃, CH₃ or p-CH₃C₆H₄), the neutral ligands were found to adopt a unidentate mode of coordination. For several of these complexes, X-ray crystallography revealed a square-planar array of pyridine ligands around the central metal, with anions coordinated in a unidentate mode above and below this plane. A monomeric molecular structure results in which the paramagnetic centres are well isolated from each other giving rise to magnetically-dilute species. In complexes of stoichiometry M(pyz)₂X₂ (where M is Fe or Cu and X⁻ is CF₃S0₃⁻, CH₃S0₃⁻, Cl⁻, Br⁻, I⁻, C10₄⁻ or NCS⁻), pyrazine was found to coordinate through both nitrogen donor atoms and inorganic coordination polymers were produced. X-ray crystallography revealed a two-dimensional lattice in Cu(pyz)₂(CH₃S0₃)₂ with two distinct kinds of bridging pyrazine groups and monodentate sulfonate anions. For the remaining bis(pyrazine) complexes, spectroscopic evidence supports similar structures with unidentate anion coordination and bidentate bridging pyrazine ligands leading to sheet-like polymers. Cu(pyz)₂(CH₃S0₃)₂ and Fe(pyz)₂(NCS)₂ exhibit magnetic susceptibilities which reveal the antiferromagnetic nature of these materials (ˣmax at temperatures of 7.0 and 8.0 K respectively); the data were analysed in terms of a two-dimensional Heisenberg model. For the copper complex, in which the structure shows stronger pyrazine coordination along one dimension, the data were also analysed in terms of a linear chain model. Mössbauer spectroscopy showed Fe(pyz)₂(NCS)₂ to undergo a transition to a magnetically-ordered state at 9.2 K. The magnitude of the exchange coupling through bridging pyrazine in Fe(pyz)₂X₂ complexes (where X⁻ is CF₃S0₃⁻, CH₃S0₃⁻, Cl⁻, Br⁻, I⁻ or C10₄⁻) is considerably less than that present in either Cu(pyz)₂(CH₃SO₃)₂ or Fe(pyz)₂(NCS)₂. Spectroscopic evidence indicates that for Fe(py)₂(CF₃S0₃)₂ and complexes of stoichiometry M(pyz)X₂ (where M is Fe or Cu and X⁻ is CF₃S0₃⁻, p-CH₃C₆H₄S0₃⁻, Cl⁻ or NCO⁻) bridging anionic ligands are present and for the mono(pyrazine) complexes the neutral ligand also coordinates in a bridging mode. Fe(pyz)(CF₃S0₃)₂, Fe(pyz)(NCO)₂ and Cu(pyz)(CF₃SO₃)₂ all exhibit magnetic susceptibility data characteristic of antiferromagnetic materials (ˣmax at temperatures of 4.4, 38 and 7.0 K respectively). The magnetic susceptibilities for these materials were analysed in terms of the two-dimensional Heisenberg model and a linear chain model. Mössbauer spectroscopy shows both Fe(pyz)(CF₃S0₃)₂ and Fe(pyz)(NCO)₂ to undergo a transition to long-range magnetic ordering at temperatures of 3.9 and 27.0 K respectively. Low-temperature (4.2-130 K) magnetic susceptibility measurements for the iron(II) sulfonate compounds, Fe(RS0₃)₂ (where R is F, CF₃, CH₃ or p-CH₃C₆H₄) are reported. For the compounds where R is F, CF₃ or p-CH₃C₆H₄ the magnetic moment data were assessed in terms of crystal-field splitting effects. The magnetic moment data for ɑ and β forms of Fe(CH₃S0₃)₂ are indicative of antiferromagnetic exchange interactions and the characteristics of the susceptibility curve for the β isomer are explained on the basis of a transition from short-range to long range three-dimensional magnetic ordering at 22 K. / Science, Faculty of / Chemistry, Department of / Graduate

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2006. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Heterocyclic organic and organometallic compounds (e.g. polypyrrole), and their derivatives, have been of great interest for conductive polymers due to their novel properties and environmental stability as compared to non-aromatic analogs (e.g. polyacetylene). Our current interests focus upon the potential role of pyridazines in next generation electronic devices that utilize organics as the semiconducting material. Pyridazines, 6-membered aromatic rings with two adjacent nitrogens, are promising candidates for a variety of materials and commercial applications. These molecular electronic materials posses several advantages over traditional inorganic semiconducting materials including lower cost of production, higher processibility, and the ability to function on flexible substrates (so called “plastic electronics”). These compounds offer new materials suitable for a variety of real world applications such as Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) and Organic Photovoltaic Cell (OPVs). Our recent efforts has been focused on the synthesis of a variety of 5,6-fused ring pyridazines. These fused heterocycles will serve as synthetic models and building blocks for potential organic or organometallic conducting polymers. Our work is focused on the synthesis of pyridazines and their organometallic rhenium complexes and polymer research. Several aryl-substituted 5,6-fused ring pyridazines have been synthesized and characterized. A pyridazyl complexe of rhenium was synthesized in three steps beginning with a 5,6-fused pyridazine. Off-metal synthesis and characterization of [Re(CO)3{1,2-C5H3(CC6H5N)(CC6H5N)}] and some aryl-substituted pyridazines (1,2-C5H3(CRNH)(CRN); R = C6H5, C4H3S, C8H5S) are reported herein.

Heterocyclic organic and organometallic compounds (e.g. polypyrrole) and their derivatives have been of great interest for conductive polymers due to their novel properties and environmental stability as compared to non-aromatic analogs (e.g. polyacetylene). We are interested in synthesizing organometallic pyridazines and rhenium pyridazyl complexes for polymer research. SeveraI5,6-fused ring pyridazines (1,2-CsH3(CRNH)(CRN) have been synthesized and characterized. Additionally, pyridazyl complexes of rhenium were synthesized in three steps beginning from fulvenes 1,2-CsH3(COHR)(COR). On-Metal synthesis and characterization of (Re(CO)3 {1,2- CSH3(CRN)(CRN)}] (R=C6RtOMe, C6RtCI, C4H30) and some off-metal pyridazines are reported here. Our research is focused on synthesis of a variety of 5,6- fused ring pyridazines which will serve as synthetic models and building blocks for organic and organometallic conducting polymers. Our research focused on synthesis of 5 membered pyridazines and their organometallic rhenium complexes for polymer studies. Several aryl-substituted 5,6- fused ring pyridazines have been synthesized and characterized.