Characterizing nanoparticles to be able to understand how they functions in the body is important for development of drugs. Furthermore with increasing number of nanoparticle product the nanotoxicity of nanoparticles is important to understand. This report is a part of the EU-project Nanoclassifier which purpose is to “develop a cost effective, high throughput screening platform for characterization of the bionanointerface and its cell-binding partners”. Single-cycle kinetic was used to determine the number of binding epitopes on polystyrene nanoparticle with transferrin corona. The number of available epitopes describes how active the Nanoparticle will be in the body. For this purpose Single-cycle kinetic methodology was successfully used on nanoparticles. Single-cycle kinetic methodology has great potential to become the standard method for high throughput nanoparticle epitope characterization.

<p>The intricate interplay of biomolecules acting together, rather than alone, provides insight into the most basic of cellular functions, such as cell signaling, metabolism, defense, and, ultimately, the creation of life. Inherent in each of these processes is an evolutionary tendency towards increased efficiency by means of biolgocial synergy-- the ability of individual elements of a system to produce a combined effect that is different and often greater than the sum of the effects of the parts. Modern biochemists are challenged to find model systems to characterize biological synergy.</p><p>We discuss the multicomponent, enzyme complex the cellulosome as a model system of biological synergy. Native cellulosomes comprise numerous carbohydrate-active binding proteins and enzymes designed for the efficient degradation of plant cell wall matrix polysaccharides, namely cellulose. Cellulosomes are modular enzyme complexes, comparable to enzyme "legos" that may be readily constructed into multiple geometries by synthetic design. Cellulosomal enzymes provide means to measure protein efficiency with altered complex geometry through assay of enzymatic activity as a function of geometry.</p><p>Cellulosomes are known to be highly efficient at cellulose depolymerization, and current debates on the molecular origins of this efficiency suggest two related effects provide this efficiency: i) substrate targeting, which argues that the localization of the enzyme complex at the interface of insoluble cell wall polysaccharides facilitates substrate depolymerization; and ii) proximity effects, which describe the implicit benefit for co-localizing multiple enzymes with divergent substrate preferences on the activity of the whole complex.</p><p>Substrate targeting can be traced to the activity of a single protein, the cellulosomal scaffoldin cellulose binding module CBM3a that is thought to uniquely bind highly crystalline, insoluble cellulose. We introduce methods to develop a molecular understanding of the substrate preferences for CBM3a on soluble and insoluble cellulosic substrates. Using pivaloylysis of cellulose triacetate, we obtain multiple soluble cello-oligosaccharides with increasing degree of glucose polymerization (DP) from glucose (DP1) to cellodecaose (DP10) in high yield. Using calorimetry and centrifugal titrations, cello-oligosacharides were shown to not bind Clostridial cellulolyticum CMB3a. We developed AFM cantilever functionalization protocols to immobilize CBM3a and then probe the interfacial binding between CBM3a and a cellulose nanocrystal thin film using force spectroscopy. Specific binding at the interface was demonstrated in reference to a control protein that does not bind cellulose. The results indicate that i) CBM3a specifically binds nanocrystalline cellulose and ii) specific interfacial binding may be probed by force spectroscopy with the proper introduction of controls and blocking agents.</p><p>The question of enzyme proximity effects in the cellulosome must be answered by assaying the activity of cellulosomal cellulases in response to cellulosome geometry. The kinetic characterization of cellulases requires robust and reproducible assays to quantify functional cellulase content of from recombinant enzyme preparations. To facilitate the real-time routine assay of cellulase activity, we developed a custom synthesis of a fluorogenic cellulase substrate based on the cellohexaoside of Driguez and co-workers (vide infra). Two routes to synthesize a key thiophenyl glycoside building block were presented, with the more concise route providing the disaccharide in four steps from a commercial starting material. The disaccharide building blocks were coupled by chemical activation to yield the fully protected cellohexaoside over additional six steps. Future work will include the elaboration of this compound into an underivatized FRET-paired hexasaccharide and its subsequent use in cellulase activity assays.</p><p>This dissertation also covers an experimental system for the evaluation of methonium desolvation thermodynamics. Methonium (-N+Me3, Am) is an organic cation widely distributed in biological systems. The appearance of methonium in biological transmitters and receptors seems at odds with the large unfavorable desolvation free energy reported for tetramethylammonium (TMA+), a frequently utilized surrogate of methonium. We report an experimental system that facilitates incremental internalization of methonium within the molecular cavity of cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]).</p><p>Using a combination of experimental and computational studies we show that the transfer of methonium from bulk water to the CB[7] cavity is accompanied by a remarkably small desolvation enthalpy of just 0.5±0.3 kcal*mol-1, a value significantly less endothermic than those values suggested from gas-phase model studies (+49.3 kcal*mol-1). More surprisingly, the incremental withdrawal of methonium surface from water produces a non- monotonic response in desolvation enthalpy. A partially desolvated state exists, in which a portion of the methonium group remains exposed to solvent. This structure incurs an increased enthalpic penalty of ~3 kcal*mol-1 compared to other solvation states. We attribute this observation to the pre- encapsulation de-wetting of the methonium surface. Together, our results offer a rationale for the wide biological distribution of methonium and suggest limitations to computational estimates of binding affinities based on simple parameterization of solvent-accessible surface area.</p> / Dissertation

<p> </p><p>A chemoselective catalyst is preferred in a chemical reaction where protecting groups otherwise are needed. The two lipases <em>Candida antarctica </em>lipase B and <em>Rhizomucor miehei</em> lipase showed large chemoselectivity ratios, defined as (<em>k_cat</em>/<em>K</em>_M)_OH/ (<em>k_cat</em>/<em>K</em>_M)_SH, in a transacylation reaction with ethyl octanoate as acyl donor and hexanol or hexanethiol as acyl acceptor (<strong>paper I</strong>). The chemoselectivity ratio of the uncatalyzed reaction was 120 in favour of the alcohol. Compared to the uncatalyzed reaction, the chemoselectivity was 730 times higher for <em>Candida antarctica </em>lipase B and ten times higher for <em>Rhizomucor miehei</em> lipase. The <em>K</em>_M towards the thiol was more than two orders of magnitude higher than the <em>K</em>_M towards the corresponding alcohol. This was the dominating contribution to the high chemoselectivity displayed by the two lipases. In a novel approach, <em>Candida antarctica </em>lipase B was used as catalyst for enzymatic synthesis of thiol-functionalized polyesters in a one-pot reaction without using protecting groups (<strong>paper II</strong>). Poly(e-caprolactone) with a free thiol at one of the ends was synthesized in an enzymatic ring-opening polymerization initiated with mercaptoethanol or terminated with either 3-mercaptopropionic acid or g-thiobutyrolactone.</p><p> </p>

CD2AP is a member of the CD2AP/CIN85 family of adaptors and involved in several cellular processes, such as kidney podocyte development, actin mediated membrane trafficking and T cell activation. It contains three SH3 domains whose binding properties and interaction partners remain largely unexplored. The CD2AP SH3 interaction with the novel partner Rab5-activating GEF RIN3 was studied extensively by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), peptide scanning arrays, mutagenesis and X-ray crystallography. Mapping of the interaction regions showed that human RIN3 contains two binding sites for the CD2AP SH3 domains. From these studies, the CD2AP SH3 recognition motif P-x-P/A-x-x-R emerged. Two crystal structures (1.65 &Aring; and 1.2 &Aring;) of the SH3 1 and SH3-2 domains in complex with RIN3 epitopes 1 and 2 respectively revealed that these residues serve as anchoring points. With the aid of bioinformatics tools, this motif was used to conduct a peptide array-based screen for additional signalling partner candidates. One of the hits was the Arf-GAP ARAP1. ITC data indicate that the three SH3 domains differentially recognise three ARAP1 epitopes, with the first ARAP1 epitope binding to SH3-2 in the nanomolar range. A crystal structure (1.6 &Aring;) of the SH3-2 domain in complex with the first ARAP1 epitope implicates two additional anchoring residues that extend beyond the PPII helical region of the canonical motif. The CD2AP/ARAP1 interaction was confirmed in podocytes and cancer cells at the endogenous protein level. Even though RIN3 and ARAP1 are involved in membrane trafficking, a direct link to CD2AP had not been reported before. Other candidates from the peptide array analyses were also investigated by ITC. In conclusion, this study led to the elucidation of the CD2AP SH3-1 and SH3-2 domain binding signatures and the identification of putative novel binding partners for all three SH3 domains. Lastly, insight was gained into the binding preferences of CD2AP SH3-3.

A doença de Chagas, causada pelo Trypanosoma cruzi, é uma doença tropical que aflige milhões de pessoas, gerando consequências sócio-econômicas devastadoras. Ela tem sido considerada uma doença tropical super-negligenciada, já que os únicos fármacos disponíveis para o seu tratamento apresentam baixa eficácia e causam vários efeitos colaterais. Além disso, os mesmos foram introduzidos há mais de três décadas. Com esse cenário, é evidente a necessidade da descoberta, desenvolvimento e introdução de novos fármacos para o tratamento eficiente e seguro da doença de Chagas. A enzima gliceraldeído-3-fosfato desidrogenase (GAPDH) é um alvo biomacromolecular atraente para a descoberta de novos fármacos contra os tripanossomatídeos, em virtude das enzimas da via glicolítica exercerem um papel fundamental no fornecimento de energia para a sobrevivência do parasito. Essa enzima foi selecionada neste trabalho de tese para a realização de estudos em química medicinal com base em quiminformática com o objetivo de identificar potenciais inibidores enzimáticos e do T. cruzi. Na primeira etapa desta tese, o ensaio virtual baseado na estrutura do alvo (SBVS) foi usado na identificação e seleção dos compostos. Como resultado do planejamento in silico, vinte compostos foram selecionados e avaliados experimentalmente na segunda etapa do trabalho empregando a técnica de calorimetria de titulação isotérmica (ITC). Destes, onze inibiram a GAPDH de T. cruzi resultando numa elevada taxa de acerto (>= 20%). Os novos inibidores apresentam excelente eficiência do ligante (LE), bem como mostram ligeira seletividade pela enzima do parasito. O ensaio dos inibidores contra a forma tripomastigota do T. cruzi identificou dois compostos capazes de inibir essa forma infectiva e um deles também mostrou ser um potente inibidor da forma amastigota do parasito, além de apresentar baixa toxidez. As duas melhores classes de inibidores da GAPDH e do parasito foram selecionadas para o estabelecimento de relações quantitativas entre a estrutura química e a atividade biológica (QSAR). Estudos de QSAR 2D (HQSAR) forneceram modelos com elevada capacidade preditiva e proporcionaram a identificação de características estruturais importantes para a otimização dos ligantes a compostos-matrizes. / Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is a tropical disease, which afflicts millions of people, thus generating devastating socio-economic consequences. It has been pointed out that it is a super-neglected tropical disease, based on available drugs with low efficacy and that give rise to many side effects. In addition, these drugs were introduced three decades ago. With this scenario, it is clear the necessity of the discovery, development and introduction of new efficient drugs to treat Chagas disease. The enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is a promising target for the development of new drugs against trypanosomatides, since the enzymes of the glycolytic pathway display a fundamental role in the energy supply to parasite survival. In this thesis, this enzyme was selected for medicinal chemistry within the cheminformatics framework aiming at the identification of potential enzymatic and parasite inhibitors. In the first part, structure-based virtual screening (SBVS) methods were employed in the selection and identification of compounds. Based on the in silico design, twenty compounds were selected and experimentally evaluated in the second part using the isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) technique. Out of these, eleven compounds inhibited the T. cruzi GAPDH, resulting in high hit rates (>= 20 %). The new selected inhibitors display excellent ligand efficiency (LE), as well as some selectivity for the parasite enzyme. The inhibitors assay against the trypomastigote form of T. cruzi was used to identify two compounds able to inhibit this infective form, and one showed to be a strong amastigote parasite inhibitor, also disclosing low cytotoxicity profile. The best two classes of GAPDH and parasite inhibitors were selected for the establishment of a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR). 2D QSAR (HQSAR) studies resulted in linear models with high predictive power, amenable for the identification of important structural features in the process of hit-to-lead optimization.

Mais de quarenta proteínas humanas estão envolvidas em doenças amilóides, sendo a transtirretina (TTR) uma dessas. A dissociação do tetrâmero da TTR é a etapa limitante para sua via de agregação. Esta etapa pode ser dificultada pela ligação de pequenas moléculas a dois sítios na interface tetramérica da TTR e facilitada em variantes mutantes. A mutante V30M é a variante amiloidogênica mais frequente da TTR e, apesar da mutação não se encontrar no sítio de ligação de pequenas moléculas, pode limitar a interação de inibidores com esta proteína. Desta forma, a busca de inibidores da agregação da TTR tipo selvagem (TTRwt) e mutantes amiloidogênicas vem sendo realizada. Na presente tese, flavonóides, freqüentemente encontrados em alimentos, e agonistas sintéticos do receptor do hormônio tireoidiano, seletivos para a isoforma beta deste receptor, foram selecionados para testes de inibição da agregação da TTRwt e mutante V30M. A interação dos melhores inibidores com a TTR foi também caracterizada em detalhes. Para isto, um ensaio de agregação in vitro da TTR foi utilizado para triagem dos compostos; e a assinatura termodinâmica da interação dos melhores inibidores com a TTR, bem como as estruturas cristalográficas TTR:inibidores foram determinadas por calorimetria de titulação isotérmica e cristalografia de proteínas, respectivamente. Os compostos sintéticos, GC-1 e GC-24, mostraram-se inibidores eficazes, porém com potência moderada. Já as flavonas luteolina (LUT), apigenina (API) e crisina (CHR), a flavanona naringenina (NAR), o flavonol kaenferol (KAE) e a isoflavona genisteína (GEN) apresentaram boa potência e eficácia de inibição da agregação da TTR in vitro. Os inibidores NAR, CHR, GEN e KAE não mostraram mesma capacidade de inibição da mutante V30M e apresentaram cooperatividade negativa para ligação aos dois sítios da TTR. A posição dos inibidores no sítio, bem como a variabilidade química/ estrutural dos compostos testados parecem influenciar os mecanismos de interação com os dois sítios da TTR e a ligação à mutante V30M. Modificações no sítio da mutante V30M foram identificadas e são apontadas como a principal causa para a seletividade de alguns inibidores à forma selvagem da TTR. De modo geral, a investigação detalhada da interação de pequenas moléculas com a TTR permitiu propor as bases moleculares da cooperatividade entre os sítios desta proteína e das diferenças de interação dos inibidores com a forma selvagem e mutante V30M da TTR. / More than forty human proteins are involved in human amyloid diseases, being transthyretin (TTR) one of these. TTR tetramer dissociation is a limiting step for its aggregation pathway. This step can be delayed by small molecules binding to two binding sites in the TTR tetramer interface and enhanced in TTR amyloidogenic variants. The V30M mutant is the most frequent TTR amyloidogenic variant and, eventhough the mutation is not situated in the TTR binding site, this mutation can limit small molecule interaction with the V30M mutant. Therefore, the search for wild type (TTRwt) and amyloidogenic TTR mutant inhibitors is under investigation. In the present thesis, flavonoids, frequently found in food, and synthetic thyroid hormone receptor beta-selective agonists were selected for evaluation of their inhibition ability on TTRwt and V30M mutant aggregation. The interaction of the best inhibitors with TTR was also characterized in details. For this, an in vitro TTR aggregation assay was used for inhibitor screening, and the thermodynamic signature of interaction, as well the TTR:inhibitors crystal complexes were determined by isothermal titration calorimetry and protein crystallography, respectively. The synthetic compounds, GC-1 and GC-24, displayed high efficacy, however moderated inhibition potency. The flavones luteolin (LUT), apigenin (API), chrisin (CHR), the flavanone naringenin (NAR), the flavonol kaenferol (KAE) and the isoflavone genistein (GEN) showed good potency and efficacy of TTR aggregation inhibition in vitro. The inhibitors, CHR, NAR, GEN and KAE, had lower inhibition capacity to the V30M mutant, and displayed negative cooperativity of binding to the two TTR binding sites. The inhibitor position in the binding site, as well as the chemical/ structural variability of the tested compounds seems to influence the interaction mechanism with the two TTR binding sites and the binding to the V30M mutant. Modifications on the V30M mutant binding sites were identified and pointed as the main reasons for the selectivity of some inhibitors to the wild type TTR. Overall, the detailed inspection of small molecule interaction with TTR suggests the molecular basis of the cooperativity between the two TTR binding sites and also of the differences between the inhibitors interaction with the wild type and with the V30M mutant TTR.

O processo de análise química denominado de titulação por procura binária foi desenvolvido e aplicado em sistema de injeção em fluxo. Este procedimento de análise, baseado no método das variações contínuas, procura o menor intervalo em fração volumétrica do titulante, ou da solução da amostra, que contenha o ponto final de uma titulação. Ao ser introduzida alíquota da solução da amostra no percurso analítico, o sinal gerado pelo detector deve ser significativamente diferente daquele gerado com a inserção de uma alíquota da solução do titulante. Neste processo descontínuo, a procura do ponto final segue a lógica binária, reduzindo os incrementos de fração volumétrica, da solução de amostra ou do titulante, em 50%, a cada nova tentativa de procura. Os sinais gerados por um detector espectrofotométrico, acoplado ao sistema de fluxo, eram convertidos em sinais digitais e comparados com os sinais fornecidos pelo detector nas duas tentativas iniciais da procura. Um programa foi desenvolvido para gerenciar este procedimento de titulação, determinando o volume das alíquotas das soluções, para cada tentativa, bem como estabelecendo a rota de procura. O procedimento foi aplicado à uma série de titulações envolvendo reações de neutralização e complexação. Uma titulação, aplicando este procedimento, pode ser executada em 3 minutos, consumindo aproximadamente 2 cm3 das soluções reagentes. As limitações para a aplicação deste procedimento de análise são discutidas, bem como a inviabilidade de sua aplicação sem o emprego de recursos de automatização. / A flow injection analytical procedure named as binary search titrimetric process was studied. It was based on volumetric fraction variation methodology. Under its directive, the microcomputer can control the titrand and titrant solutions delevering into the analytical path, by varying both volumetric fractions, following an algorithm based on successive aproximation method. Analytical signals assessed from the analog output of the spectrophotometer for each tentatives were converted to digital making use of an interface card, attached in the microcomputer main board. After each solutions handling cycles, the data collected were processed in order to decide about the next tentative to be carried out, obeying the settled binary search algorithm. The feasibility was ascertained by titrating solutions employing neutralization and complexation reactions. The time interval to perform this titration process employing binary search concept was about 3 minutes, consuming ca 2 cm3 of reagents solutions. No significant difference at 5 % probability level was observed by comparing of the results obtained applying this procedure with those produced by manual procedures.

Apesar da incidência per capita da tuberculose (TB) ter se mantido estável em 2005, o número de novos casos que surgem a cada ano continua a aumentar no mundo todo. De acordo com a Organização Mundial de Saúde, foram estimados 9,4 milhões de novos casos de TB em 2008, dos quais 1,4 milhões eram HIV - positivos, e com 1,8 milhões de mortes - o equivalente a 4.500 mortes por dia. Fatores como migração, privação sócio-econômica, co-infecção TB-HIV e o aparecimento de cepas resistentes contribuíram para o aumento do número de casos de TB no mundo, principalmente nos países onde a TB já foi considerada erradicada, e criaram a necessidade do desenvolvimento de novas terapêuticas. Alvos moleculares específicos, que são essenciais para o patógeno, e ausentes no hospedeiro, como as enzimas da via do ácido chiquímico são alvos atraentes para o desenvolvimento de novas drogas antituberculose. Essa via leva à síntese de compostos aromáticos, como aminoácidos aromáticos, e é encontrada em plantas, fungos, bactérias e parasitas do phylum Apicomplexa, mas está ausente em humanos. No ano de 2000, foi comprovada a essencialidade dessa via para a viabilidade do bacilo, tornando todas essas enzimas alvos validados para estudo. A segunda enzima da via, deidroquinato sintase (DHQS), catalisa a conversão de 3-deoxi-D-arabino heptulosonato-7-fosfato em 3-deidroquinato, o primeiro composto cíclico. Neste trabalho, são descritos o requerimento de metais divalentes na reação e a determinação do mecanismo cinético da DHQS. Os parâmetros cinéticos verdadeiros foram determinados e, juntamente com os experimentos de ligação, o mecanismo rápido-equilíbrio aleatório foi proposto. O tratamento com EDTA aboliu completamente a atividade de DHQS, sendo que a adição de Co+2 e Zn+2 levam a recuperação total e parcial da atividade enzimática, respectivamente. O excesso de Zn+2 inibe a atividade DHQS, e os dados de ITC indicaram a presença de dois sítios seqüenciais de ligação, o que é consistente com a existência de um sítio secundário inibitório. O protocolo de cristalização foi estabelecido e experimentos em andamento proporcionarão a elucidação da estrutura tridimensional da DHQS, que irá beneficiar tanto o desenho de novos inibidores como uma análise detalhada dos rearranjos do domínio da proteína. Em conjunto, estes resultados representam um passo essencial para o desenho racional de inibidores específicos que podem fornecer uma alternativa promissora para um novo, eficaz, e mais curto de tratamento para TB. / Although the estimated per capita tuberculosis (TB) incidence was stable in 2005, the number of new cases arising each year is still increasing globally. According with World Health Organization, there were estimated 9.4 million new TB cases in 2008, from which 1.4 million were HIV-positive, with 1.8 million deaths total – equal to 4500 deaths a day. Migration, socio-economic deprivation, HIV co-infection and the emergence of extensively-resistance strains, have all contributed to the increasing number of TB cases worldwide, mainly in countries where it was once considered eradicated, and have created an urgent need for the development of new therapeutics against TB. Specific molecular targets, that are essential to the pathogen, and absent in the host, like the enzymes of the shikimate pathway, are attractive targets to development of new antitubercular drugs. This pathway leads to the biosynthesis of aromatic compounds, including aromatic amino acids and it is found in plant, fungi, bacteria and Apicomplexa parasites, but is absent in humans. In 2000, this pathway was proved to be essential to the viability of the pathogen, which validates all its enzymes as potential targets. The second enzyme of this pathway, dehydroquinate synthase (DHQS), catalyzes the conversion of 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulosonate 7-phosphate in 3-dehydroquinate, the first cyclic compound. In this work, we described the metal requirement and kinetic mechanism determination of the dehydroquinate synthase. The determination of the true kinetic parameters was performed, and, in addition to ligand binding experiments, the rapid-equilibrium random mechanism was determined. The treatment with EDTA abolished completely the activity of DHQS, and the addition of Co+2 and Zn+2 leads to full and partial recovery of enzyme activity, respectively. Excess of Zn+2 inhibits the DHQS activity, and the ITC data revealed two sequential binding sites, which is consistent with the existence of a secondary inhibitory site. The crystallization protocol was established and ongoing experiments will provide the three-dimensional structure of mtDHQS, which will benefit both the design of novel inhibitors as well as detailed analysis of domain rearrangements of protein. Taken together, these results represent an essential step for the rational design of specific inhibitors that can provide a promising alternative to a new, effective, and shorter treatment for TB.

Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2016-10-17T10:53:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Monique Barreto Santos.pdf: 2356049 bytes, checksum: 8a379b47682a5e067746503ee59b6d27 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-17T10:53:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Monique Barreto Santos.pdf: 2356049 bytes, checksum: 8a379b47682a5e067746503ee59b6d27 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-29 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico - CNPq / Proteins are biopolymers of high nutritional and functional significance has been widely used as food ingredients. The interaction between two different proteins oppositely charged, and can give rise to complex coacervate currently used as an ingredient in food technology or as a microencapsulating agent. The formation of complex coacervates between Lysozyme and Ovalbumin and between Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and Lysozyme has been investigated as a function of pH, mass ratio of total and concentration of NaCl. For both interactions studied, complexing latched in a wide pH range which corresponds to the interval between the pI of proteins. Among Ovalbumin and Lysozyme interaction was more intense in the ratio r = 1 at pH 7.5 and BSA and Lysozyme most complex formation has occurred on the ratio r = 0.5 and pH 9.0. Changes in the ionic strength by adding NaCl negatively affected the interaction between Lysozyme and BSA already at a concentration of 0.01 mol / L and 0.03 mol / L abolished the interaction between Lysozyme and Ovalbumin. Through Potential - zeta can be seen that the formation of insoluble complexes was highest near the pI for all studied reasons, indicating that the interaction is given by neutralization of opposite charges. The Infrared spectra suggested that electrostatic interactions led interactions however, hydrogen bonds also had a hand in the coacervation process for the proteins under study. The micrographs showed that the insoluble complexes showed spherical structure and particle size showed the formation of structures with an average size around 2 ?m, much larger than the observable size for the isolated proteins. The isothermal titration calorimetry showed that the interaction between Lysozyme and Ovalbumin was exothermic and was performed in two steps, the first and second entropy directed enthalpy driven. The differential scanning calorimetry suggested the presence of a single point of denaturation, that the interaction between Lysozyme and BSA led to a new biopolymer with denaturation temperature 67 ? C differs from isolated proteins. These studies suggested that complex coacervates formed between Ovalbumin / Lysozyme and BSA / Lysozyme could be used as the encapsulating bioactive agent or as food ingredients in order to add nutritional value. / Prote?nas s?o biopol?meros de grande import?ncia nutricional e funcional tendo sido amplamente utilizadas como ingredientes alimentares. A intera??o entre duas prote?nas diferentes e opostamente carregadas pode dar origem aos complexo coacervado, atualmente utilizados como ingrediente na tecnologia de alimentos ou como agente de microencapsula??o. A forma??o de complexos coacervados entre Ovalbumina e Lisozima e entre Albumina s?rica bovina (BSA) e Lisozima foi investigada em fun??o do pH, raz?o de massa total e concentra??o de NaCl. Para as duas intera??es estudadas, a complexa??o acorreu em uma ampla faixa de pH, que corresponde ao intervalo entre os pI das prote?nas. Entre Ovalbumina e Lisozima a intera??o foi mais intensa na raz?o r=1 em pH 7,5 e para BSA e Lisozima a maior forma??o de complexos ocorreu na raz?o r=0,5 e pH 9,0. Altera??es na for?a i?nica por adi??o de NaCl influenciaram negativamente a intera??o entre Albumina BSA e Lisozima j? na concentra??o de 0,01 mol/L e a 0,03 mol/L suprimiu a intera??o entre Ovalbumina e Lisozima. Por meio do Potencial - zeta pode-se verificar que a forma??o de complexos insol?veis foi m?xima pr?ximo ao pI para todas as raz?es estudadas, indicando que a intera??o se deu por neutraliza??o de cargas opostas. Os espectros no infravermelho sugeriram que intera??es eletrost?ticas conduziram as intera??es no entanto, liga??es de hidrog?nio tamb?m tiveram participa??o no processo de coacerva??o para as prote?nas em estudo. As micrografias revelaram que os complexos insol?veis apresentavam estrutura esf?rica e o tamanho de part?cula demonstrou a forma??o de estruturas com tamanho m?dio em torno de 2 ?m, as quais s?o bem maiores do que o tamanho obervado para as prote?nas isoladas. A calorimetria de titula??o isot?rmica demonstrou que a intera??o entre Ovalbumina e Lisozima foi exot?rmica, a qual ocorreu em duas etapas, a primeira entropicamente dirigida e a segunda entalpicamente dirigida. A calorimetria diferencial de varredura sugeriu, pela presen?a de um ?nico ponto de desnatura??o, que a intera??o entre BSA e Lisozima deu origem a um novo biopol?mero com temperatura de desnatura??o a 67?C, diferente das prote?nas isoladas. Estes estudos sugeriram que complexos coacervados formados entre Ovalbumina / Lisozima e BSA / Lisozima poderiam ser utilizados como agente encapsulante de bioativos ou como ingredientes alimentares com o objetivo de agregar valor nutricional.

The closed shell structures of certain all-carbon fragments originally observed in mass spectroscopy experiments leads to the enhanced stability of these species, known as fullerenes, which have excited sufficient interest amongst chemists and physicists over the last decade to warrant the award of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry to their discoverers. ¶ Studies of the stability, symmetry, and consequent remarkable properties of fullerenes began in earnest in 1991 with the development of a technique enabling the production and purification of macroscopic quantities of material. The best known and most widely studied fullerene is the truncated icosahedral C[subscript 60] molecule, which forms the basis of the present work. ¶ One important property of C[subscript 60] is that it forms salts with sufficiently electropositive species, such as the alkali metals. The resulting salts contain C[subscript 60] anions and are known as fullerides. Certain of these salts display metallic behaviour, and some superconduct at temperatures as high as 33 K. ¶ Three aspects of fulleride research are addressed in this work. These are: i) the preparation, crystal structure determination and superconductivity characterization of several new fullerides, particularly those including ammonia as an additional intercalant; ii) the electronic structure of the C[superscript n-, subscript 60] (n = 1 - 6) anions, as probed by solution-phase near infrared absorption spectroscopy; and iii) the molecular dynamics of a number of fullerides, superconducting and non-superconducting, by inelastic neutron scattering. ¶ This work has grown out of an Honours project also concerning C[subscript 60], the combined duration of the two studies covering essentially the entire history of this widely and competitively studied field.