No description available.

No description available.

Type III-B rotaxane dendrimers (T3B-RDs) are hyperbranched macromolecules with mechanical bonds on every branching unit. First to third (G1-G3), and up to the fourth (G4) generation (MW>22,000 Da) of pure organic T3B-RDs and dendrons were successfully synthesized through the copper catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction. By utilizing multiple molecular shuttling of the mechanical bonds within the sphere-like macromolecule, a collective three-dimensional contract-extend molecular motion was demonstrated by diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY). The discrete T3B-RDs were further observed and characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and mass spectrometry (MS). The binding of chlorambucil and pH-triggered switching of the T3B-RDs were also characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy.;Type III-C rotaxane dendrimer is a new type of rotaxane dendrimer where in the mechanical bonds are in between and constituing the branchning point to form the macromolecules. First and second (G1-G2) type III-C rotaxane dendrimers were synthesized successfully as a prototypical example. Two different shuttling processes have been deomostrated by the non-methylated and methylated type III-C rotaxane dendrimers, and characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy.

Supramolecular chemistry covers intermolecular interactions where non-covalent bonds are involved, and many of them are based on host-guest interactions. Cyclodextrins (CDs) are cyclic oligosaccharides consisting of 6-, 7- or 8-glucose units, which are called alpha-, beta- or gamma-CDs, respectively. They have hydrophobic interior and hydrophilic exterior, and are widely being used as hosts for various organic molecules. The formation of CD inclusion complexes with a variety of dyes has continuously drawn our interests, since CDs are readily available and have ability to include dye molecules altering their properties. The present thesis covers the study of inclusion complexes of CDs and chromophore dyes, largely in two ways; rotaxane and pseudorotaxane. The stable rotaxane structure is achieved with the synthesis of dye rotaxane. The introduction of CD ring around azo chromophore provides a simple way to improve the solubility and stability of azo dye. We have shown that by incorporating proper compounds as a coupler, azo dye rotaxanes can be used as pH indicators and metal ion sensors. We have described the synthesis of novel acetylene dye rotaxane using the Pd-catalyzed reaction of Heck-Cassar-Sonogashira-Hagihara type. Its fluorescence properties in the solid state as well as in solutions are examined and compared with those of free dye. Free dye, which has tetra-carboxylic groups, is found to be highly sensitive to various metal ions, exhibiting high Stern-Volmer constants, K(SV). On the contrary, acetylene dye rotaxane exhibits much less quenching against various quenchers. The appearance of fluorescent anisotropic structure has been observed by the formation of inclusion complex between acetylene dye and gamma-CD. Its structural nature is studied by various techniques, including fluorescence, fluorescence anisotropy, wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements. Methyl orange, an acid azo dye, forms a dimeric inclusion complex with gamma-CD, resulting in the formation stable anisotropic aggregates. Several other azo dyes are found to form anisotropic supramolecule in the presence of gamma-CD, and their structural characteristic has been discussed in terms of the number and position of solubilizing groups.

In Nature sophisticated molecular machines are responsible for the synthesis of essential biomolecules and natural biopolymers. Inspired by these natural prototypes, scientist have begun to developed artificial systems that are able to perform complex synthetic tasks. Selected state-of-the-art examples, are presented and categorised according to their synthetic function: systems, which can distinguish between substrates and can also be regulated to produce different products, systems that selectively conduct multistep cascade reactions in mixtures of different reactants and systems that operate in a processive and sequence-specific fashion (Introduction).Following these examples, inspired by the ribosome, the synthesis and operation of the first artificial small-molecule machines based on a rotaxane structure capable of performing sequence-specific synthesis of a tri- and tetrapeptide from a molecular template is described. These machines operate through native chemical ligation (NCL), using a macrocyclic cysteine catalyst that iteratively removes proteinogenic amino acids from the strand and transfers them to a peptide elongation site. Successful operation on small scale generated milligram quantities of the peptides with a single sequence, determined by tandem mass spectrometry, corresponding to the original order of the amino acid building blocks on the strand (Chapter 1). Based on these first prototypes the system was extended to molecular machines operating on polymeric tracks. In this context the limits of the NCL mechanism were explored and the concept of the machine operation was investigated on a model system containing a polystyrene backbone with multiple leucine units. Here, machines with an average number of up to five L-leucyl groups were successfully operated. These initial studies represent the groundwork for the operation on longer polymeric systems containing sequences of amino acids (Chapter 2). Machines operating through a native chemical ligation (NCL) mechanism are restricted by a number of limitations: the rate of the reaction, the length and structure of the synthesised peptide, the cleavage of the product and finally the fact that peptide synthesis occurs in a reversed fashion to ribosomal synthesis (from C to N terminus). To overcome those limitations the development towards a 2nd generation molecular machine based on a transacylation catalyst was envisioned. Since this type of catalyst operates via a series of transacylation steps, the size of the transition state is kept the same throughout the operation, allowing access to longer peptides with fewer structural restrictions. Model systems using a thiophenol catalyst and a 1,2,4-triazol catalyst have been investigated (Chapter 3).

Thèse doctorat : Sciences Chimiques : Strasbourg 1 : 2006. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. 7 p.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, October 2009. / Electronic version restricted until 9th October 2011.

No description available.

L'objectif de cette thèse est la mise en place et l'étude d'un transfert d'énergie électronique réversible (REET), à la suite d’une excitation lumineuse, entre des sous-composants moléculaires au sein d’architectures nanométriques de type rotaxane. Dans un système bichromophorique, lorsque les états excités du chromophore les plus bas sont quasi-isoénergétiques et que la cinétique du transfert interchromophore est rapide, le REET peut être instillé en modifiant les propriétés de l'état excité. Des dérivés du pyrène et du tris(bipyridine)ruthénium(II) ont été choisis comme chromophores appariés. La formation de rotaxane a été catalysée par du cuivre (réactions de Huisgen et Cadiot-Chodkiewicz) au sein d’un macrocycle doté de pyrène, couplant des demi-fils moléculaires comprenant des groupements terminaux volumineux - dont Ru(bpy)32+. Des durées de vie de luminescence prolongée (jusqu'à 14 μs), comparées au parent Ru(bpy)32+, indiquent que des processus de transfert d'énergie électroniques réversibles ont été établis dans une série de rotaxanes de structure variable, sont étudiés par spectroscopies stationnaire et résolue dans le temps. / The focus of this thesis is the establishment and study of reversible electronic energy transfer (REET), following light excitation, between molecular subcomponents within ring-on-thread rotaxane nanometric architectures. When the lowest-lying chromophore excited states are quasi-isoenergetic and kinetics of interchromophore transfer are rapid, REET can be instilled - changing excited-state properties. Pyrene and ruthenium(II) tris(bipyridine) derivatives were chosen as matched chromophores. Rotaxane formation was based on active template copper catalysis (Huisgen and Cadiot-Chodkiewicz reactions) within a pyrene-decorated macrocycle, coupling half threads comprising bulky stopper groups - one of which being Ru(bpy)32+. Prolonged luminescence lifetimes (up to 14 μs), compared to parent Ru(bpy)32+, indicated that reversible electronic energy transfer processes were instilled in a series of rotaxanes of varying structure, which were studied by state-state and time-resolved spectroscopies.

During this thesis we tried to design, synthesise and analyse some novel devices for the selective delivery of peptides. These systems are based on the enzyme-activated anticancer prodrugs developed by Prof. Gesson in Poitiers and the peptide rotaxanes developed by Prof. Leigh in Edinburgh. The innovative rotaxanes we constructed are devised to protect and selectively release a peptide in response to an enzyme-specific stimulus for the targeted therapy of cancer. In Chapter 1 we tried to expose the main synthetic strategies aimed at improving the stability and permeation features of biologically active peptides. We examined some prodrug approaches and particularly the tumour-activated prodrugs (TAPs), largely investigated for use in anticancer chemotherapy. TAPs are generally three-part molecules composed of trigger, spacer and effector units. We also presented the original methodology developed by Prof. Leigh, namely the hydrogen bond-directed assembly of peptide rotaxanes, to protect a peptide thread from external environment. Finally we presented our project which consists of a combination of the peptide prodrug and rotaxane approaches. Therefore, based on the knowledge of both research groups we tried in Chapter 2 to develop some model systems in order to study the influence of the rotaxane architecture upon prodrug molecules. The first step towards such rotaxane-based peptide prodrugs relied on the efficient design of a spacer which has to be bulky enough to work as a stopper for the macrocycle. Much of the work presented in this chapter is based on the design and synthesis of such self-immolative units. We then explored the response of our model rotaxanes under the action of the activating enzyme. After this detailed study, in Chapter 3 we applied our concept to the biologically active peptide Met-enkephalin. In this chapter we presented a comparison between a rotaxane prodrug of Met-enkephalin and its non-interlocked derivative. Thus both compounds were successfully synthesised and evaluated to release the free peptide after enzymatic activation. The protective effect of encapsulating the peptide within a rotaxane assembly was also studied in human plasma and with different proteases. Finally, in Chapter 4, we introduced the construction of a rotaxane-based molecular machine programmed to synthesise a short peptide unit from the amino acids carried on its thread. We synthesised with success a one-station model rotaxane to study the catalyst effect of the macrocycle. Unfortunately this model machine proved not to work and current research is still ongoing to achieve such a synthetic device.