It has been proven that platinum and ruthenium complexes are active in anti- cancer treatment. Nowadays, the common chemotherapeutica have a lot of side effects, therefore, drugs with fewer negative impacts are intensively searched for. The first part of the thesis focuses on the study of cis-[Pt(NH3)2Cl2] (cisplatin, DDP) and four platinum potential anticancer agents PtCl2(diaminocyclohexane), PtCl2(NH3)(cyclohexylamine) (JM118), cis-[PtCl2(NH3)(piperidine)] and trans-[PtCl2(NH3)(thiazole)]. Thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of reac- tions of these complexes in semi-hydrated and fully-hydrated form with guanine were studied using QM methods. The reaction with guanine is the key process ini- tiating the anticancer activity. Analyses of electron density were performed at the B3LYP/6-311++G(2df,2pd) level of theory in IEF-PCM model. The second part of the thesis studies the reaction of the so-called 'piano stool' Ru(II) transition metal complex, [Ru(II)(η6 -p-cymene(nalidixic acid)(H2O)]2+ , first with guanine using QM methods and second with ds-DNA model using QM/MM methods. The reaction site, which is described by QM method, is two consecutive guanines and the Ru(II) complex. Analyses of thermodynamic and kinetic parameters, and electron density were performed at the B97D/6-31G* level of theory. All the...

Une mousse de PA66 peut être obtenue à partir de granulés de PA66 expansibles en utilisant un procédé de transformation classique des polymères. Les granulés expansibles de PA66 sont préparés par extrusion bi-vis corotative en mélangeant le PA66 et un agent moussant spécifique au PA66 qui contient des fonctions isocyanate bloquées. Le moussage a lieu dans une seconde étape (extrusion ou moulage par injection) à une température supérieure à la température de préparation des granulés expansibles et suffisamment élevée pour libérer les fonctions isocyanate. Une fois libérées, les fonctions isocyanate réagissent avec les groupements terminaux acide carboxylique du PA66 (modification de la masse molaire du PA66) et l'eau présente dans le milieu réactionnel ce qui génère du CO2. L’objectif de cette thèse était de montrer comment contrôler la morphologie des mousses par le contrôle de la cinétique de réaction chimique, de la rhéologie et des paramètres d’injection. Nous avons montré qu’une augmentation du taux d’agent moussant, de la température ou du temps de séjour entraîne une augmentation de la quantité de CO2 générée. De plus, le comportement rhéologique du système PA66m/CO2 dissous, est une fonction complexe de l’état d’avancement des réactions c'est-à-dire de la quantité de CO2 générée et de la modification de la structure du PA66 (augmentation de la masse molaire): il peut être plus visqueux ou moins visqueux que le PA66 standard. Enfin, des tests de moussage en moulage par injection ont été réalisés: des mousses homogènes dont les tailles de bulles étaient de l’ordre de quelques centaines de microns et les taux de moussage compris entre 10 et 50% ont été obtenues. / PA66 foam can be obtained from expandable PA66 pellet using classical polymer processing process. The expandable PA66 pellets are prepared by mixing PA66 and a specific foaming agent which contains blocked isocyanate (NCO) moieties in twin screw extrusion. Foaming takes place in a second step (extrusion or injection molding) at a temperature higher than the temperature for the preparation of expandable beads and high enough to release the isocyanate moieties. Once released, the isocyanate moieties react with the carboxylic acid end groups of PA66 (modification of the molecular weight of PA66) and water contained in the reaction medium, which generates CO2. The aim of this PhD thesis was to be able to control the morphology of the foam by controlling the chemical reaction kinetics, rheology and injection molding parameters. We have shown that an increase of foaming agent content, temperature or residence time leads to an increase of CO2 release. In addition, the rheological behavior of the system PA66m/CO2 dissolved, is a complex function of foaming reactions progress which means, the amount of CO2 generated and the modification of PA66 structure (increase molar mass): it may be more or less viscous than standard PA66. Finally, trials of foaming by injection molding were performed: homogeneous foams with bubble sizes of the order of a few hundred microns and foaming rate between 10 and 50% were obtained.

O estudo da evolução da concentração de elementos de uma reação química, conhecida como Cinética Química, é de extrema importância para a compreensão das complexas interações em sistemas biológicos. Uma maneira de descrever a cinética de uma reação química é utilizando um sistema de equações diferenciais ordinárias (EDOs). Uma vez que para resolver um sistema de equações diferenciais ordinárias pode ser uma tarefa difícil (ou mesmo inviável), métodos numéricos são utilizados para realizar simulações, ou seja, para obter concentrações aproximadas das espécies químicas envolvidas durante um determinado período de tempo. No entanto, quanto maior for o sistema simulado de EDOs, mais os métodos numéricos estão sujeitos a erros. Além disso, o aumento do tamanho do sistema muitas vezes resulta em simulações que são mais exigentes do ponto de vista computacional. Assim, o objetivo deste projeto de mestrado é o desenvolvimento de regras para simplificar os sistemas de equações diferenciais ordinárias que modelam a cinética de reações químicas e, portanto, a obtenção de um algoritmo para executar simulações numéricas de um modo mais rápido e menos propenso a erros. Mais do que diminuir o erro e o tempo de execução, esta simplificação possibilita o biólogo escolher a solução mais factível do ponto de vista de medida. Isso porque, a identificação dos sistemas (i.e., inferência dos parâmetros) requer que a concentração de todas as espécies químicas seja conhecida, ao menos em um certo intervalo de tempo. Contudo, em muitos casos, não é possível medir a concentração de todas as espécies químicas consideradas. Esta simplificação gera sistemas equivalentes ao original, mas que dispensa a utilização de certas concentrações de espécies químicas. Um sistema de equações diferenciais ordinárias pode ser simplificado considerando as relações de conservação de massa, que são equações algébricas. Além disso, no caso de reações enzimáticas, o sistema de equações diferenciais ordinárias pode ser simplificado pelo pressuposto de que a concentração do complexo enzima-substrato mantém-se constante, o que permite a utilização da equação de Michaelis-Menten. De todas as combinações possíveis das equações algébricas com as equações diferenciais, uma família de sistemas simplificados de EDOs foi construída, permitindo a escolha do sistema mais simples. Esta escolha segue um critério guloso que favorece a minimização do número de equações diferenciais e do número total de termos. As regras em desenvolvimento de simplificação dos sistemas de equações diferenciais ordinárias foram utilizados para projetar um algoritmo, que foi implementado usando a linguagem de programação Python. O algoritmo concebido foi testado utilizando instâncias artificiais. / The study of the evolution of the concentration of species in a chemical reaction, known as Chemical Kinetics, is of paramount importance for the understanding of complex interactions in biological systems. One way to describe the kinetics of a chemical reaction is using a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Once to solve a system of ODEs can be a difficult (or even unfeasible) task, numerical methods are employed to carry out simulations, that is, to obtain approximated concentrations of the involved chemical species for a certain time frame. However, the larger is the simulated system of ODEs, the more numerical methods are subject to error. Moreover, the increase of the system size often results in simulations that are more demanding from the computational point of view. Thus, the objective is the development of rules to simplify systems of ODEs that models the kinetics of chemical reactions, hence obtaining an algorithm to execute numerical simulations in a faster way and less prone to error. More than decrease error and run time, this simplification allows the biologist to choose the most feasible solution from the point of view of measurement. This is because the identification of systems (i.e., inferring parameters) requires that the concentration of all chemical species is known, at least in a certain time interval. However, in many cases it is not possible to measure the concentration of all chemical species considered. This simplification creates systems equivalent to the original, but that does not require the use of certain concentrations of chemical species. A system of ODEs can be simplified considering the relations of mass conservation, which are algebraic equations. Furthermore, in the case of enzymatic reactions, the system of ODEs can be simplified under the assumption that the concentration of enzyme-substrate complex remains constant, which allows us to use the Michaelis-Menten equation. From all possible combinations of the algebraic equations with differential equations, a family of simplified systems of ODEs will be built, allowing the choice of a simplest system. This choice will follow a greedy criterion which favors the minimization of number of differential equations and the total number of terms. The rules under development to simplify systems of ODEs will be used to design an algorithm, which will be implemented using Python programming language. The designed algorithm will be tested using synthetic data.

This PhD thesis is an analysis of the chemical kinetics and oxidation behavior of fuel components via experiments and correlations. First, a number of experimental studies of the reactivity of OH radicals with unsaturated hydrocarbons are performed at temperatures ranging from 294 to 1400 K by OH absorption and laser induced fluorescence techniques in two different reactors: shock tube and flow reactor. It is found that OH has a tendency to add to the unsaturated CC bond, forming a relatively stable adduct. The thermal stability of these adducts is vital for a better understanding of the kinetics of olefins, poly-olefins, alkynes and other unsaturated components in real and surrogate fuel blends. In this work, the reaction rate coefficient of the reaction of hydroxyl radical with many olefins (butenes, pentenes, hexenes), di-olefins (butadienes, and pentadienes) and allyl radical are measured. A strong competition between H-abstraction and OH-addition pathways is seen particularly in the intermediate temperature window of ~ 400 to 900 K. All of these measured elementary reactions give new insights into the chemical kinetics of fuels and allow modelers to improve the predictive capability of their models. Second, measurements of the ignition delay times of propene, isobutene, 2-methylhexane and 2-methylbutanol in air are performed using a high-pressure shock tube. Details about multi-stage ignition and ignition delay dependence on various thermodynamic properties is investigated for these four hydrocarbons. We followed this with a correlation study of ignition delay times of fuel blends and real fuel streams. The main requirement of these correlations is that these should be predictive enough to compete with the predictive capabilities of detailed chemical kinetic models but at a much reduced computational cost. The obtained correlation scheme does not only predict ignition timing during CFD simulations but also other combustion properties such as low-temperature heat release timing and resulting temperature and pressure increases due to cool flame. A discussion on the weak dependence of high-temperature ignition delay times on the composition of real fuels is also presented, where universal Arrhenius type expressions of ignition delay times of gasoline, diesel and jet fuels are given.

Orientador: José Clayston Melo Pereira / Coorientador: Adelino Vieira de Godoy Netto / Banca: Antonio Eduardo Mauro / Banca: Rodrigo Alves de Souza / Resumo: Este trabalho tem como objetivo investigar a reação entre moléculas de importância biológica tais como aminoácidos e bases nitrogenadas com complexo de paládio com potencial anticâncer com fórmula geral [Pd(dmba)(Cl)tu]. Para essa finalidade foram realizados ensaio de ressonância magnética nuclear para obter informações de caráter estrutural sobre produto da reação, bem como estudos cinéticos que foram realizados por meio de monitoramento de mudança espectral em função do tempo. Sabe-se que a reação possui elevada labilidade, nesse caso, foi necessário utilizar técnica específica de fluxo interrompido (Sttoped-flow). A caracterização dos produtos da reação será realizada com base nos resultados obtidos por técnicas de espectroscopia de RMN e espectrometria de massas. Notou-se essencialmente que a importância desse estudo ocorre uma vez que o complexo majoritário possivelmente formado estará em maior proporção quanto ao complexo precursor contendo o ligante cloreto, mostrando, portanto, que a estrutura do complexo em meio de cultura contendo cisteína não permanece estável. Assim, o estudo da relação estrutura - atividade destes complexos de paládio devem levar em consideração sua estabilidade em solução e em presença de moléculas de importância biológica tais como a Lcisteína e a glutationa. / Abstract: This dissertation investigates the reaction between biologically important molecules, such as amino acids and hydrogen bases, with a potentially anti-cancer palladium complex having the general formula [Pd(dmba)(Cl)tu]. In order to do this, nuclear magnetic resonance assays were carried out to obtain structural information about the product of the reaction; kinetic studies were also carried out by monitoring spectral changes as a function of time. It is known that the reaction has high lability, and as a result, a stopped-flow technique was employed. Characterization of the reaction products will be done based on the results obtained from NMR and mass spectroscopy studies. The essential finding of this study was that the possibly-formed majority complex has a high proportion than the precursor complex containing the binding chloride, thus showing that the structure of the complex in a culture of cysteine does not hold stability. As a consequence, studies of the relation structure-activity for these palladium complexes should take into consideration its stability in solution and in the presense of biologically important molecules such as L-cysteine and glutatione. / Mestre

Template-dependent replication at the molecular level is the basis of reproduction in nature. A detailed understanding of the peculiarities of the chemical reaction kinetics associated with replication processes is therefore an indispensible prerequisite for any understanding of evolution at the molecular level. Networks of interacting self-replicating species can give rise to a wealth of different dynamical phenomena, from competitive exclusion to permanent coexistence, from global stability to multi-stability and chaotic dynamics. Nevertheless, there are some general principles that govern their overall behavior. We focus on the question to what extent the dynamics of replication can explain the accumulation of genetic information that eventually leads to the emergence of the first cell and hence the origin of life as we know it. A large class of ligation-based replication systems, which includes the experimentally available model systems for template directed self-replication, is of particular interest because its dynamics bridges the gap between the survival of a single fittest species to the global coexistence of everthing. In this intermediate regime the selection is weak enough to allow the coexistence of genetically unrelated replicators and strong enough to limit the accumulation of disfunctional mutants.

Effects of aqueous surfactant solutions upon cis/trans isomerization reactions of various N-alkyl-merocyanine dyes (II) were studied. Dramatic rate enhancements were found for all dyes in CTAB and SDS solutions above the CMC. CTAB solutions showed the greatest effect with some dye isomerizations catalyzed in excess of 1000-fold. Increases in either CTAB concentration or dye isomerization rates. N-methyl through N-pentyl dye isomerization rates were measured as a function of CTAB concentration and the data treated according to the pseudophase model for micellar catalysis. KS values ranged from 198 to 2000 M-1 for N-methyl to N-pentyl dyes, respectively. Micellar rate constants also increased as dye hydrophobicity was increased. Thermodynamic activation parameters were determined for N-methyl through N-hexylmerocyanine dyes in CTAB solutions. Rate enhancements in CTAB (above the CMC) relative to those in purely aqueous solutions were shown to be due to a substantial lowering of ΔH‡, for the various dyes. Increased CTAB concentrations of N-methyl dye solutions gave reaction rate increases resulting from a lowering of ΔS‡. In 0.054 M CTAB, increases in reaction rates with increased N-alkyl chain length were due to large increases ΔS‡ (from ca. 0 eu for N-methyl to 13 eu for N-hexyl). The data were discussed in terms of molecular interactions which can occur within the micellar solubilization sites.

M. S.

Natural gas has grown in popularity as a fuel for power generation gas turbines. However, changes in fuel composition are a topic of concern since fuel variability can have a great impact on the reliability and performance of the burner design. In particular, autoignition of the premixed fuel and air prior to entering the main burner is a potential concern when using exotic fuel blends. To obtain much-needed data in this area, autoignition experiments for a wide range of likely fuel blends containing CH4 mixed with combinations of C2H6, C3H8, C4H10, C5H12, and H2 were performed in a high-pressure shock tube. However, testing every possible fuel blend combination and interaction was not feasible within a reasonable time and cost. Therefore, to predict the surface response over the complete mixture domain, a special experimental design was developed to significantly reduce the amount of 'trials' needed from 243 to only 41 using the Box-Behnkin factorial design methodology. Kinetics modeling was used to obtain numerical results for this matrix of fuel blends, setting the conditions at a temperature of 800 K and pressure of 17 atm. A further and successful attempt was made to reduce the 41-test matrix to a 21-test matrix. This was done using special mixture experimental techniques. The kinetics model was used to compare the smaller matrix to the expected results of the larger one. The new 21-test matrix produced a numerical correlation that agreed well with the results from the 41-test matrix, indicating that the smaller matrix would provide the same statistical information as the larger one with acceptable precision. iii After the experimental matrix was developed using the design of experiments approach, the physical experiments were performed in the shock tube. Long test times were created by "tailoring" the shock tube using a novel driver gas mixture, obtaining test times of 10 millisecond or more, which made experiments at low temperatures possible. Large discrepancies were found between the predicted results by numerical models and the actual experimental results. The main conclusion from the experiments is that the methane-based mixtures in this study enter a regime with a negative temperature coefficient when plotted in Arhennius form. This means that these mixtures are far more likely to ignite under conditions frequently encountered in a premixer, potentially creating hazardous situations. The experimental results were correlated as a function of the different species. It was found that the effect of higher-order hydrocarbon addition to methane is not as profound as seen at higher temperatures (>1100 K). However, the ignition delay time could still be reduced by a factor two or more. It is therefore evident that potential autoignition could occur within the premixer, given the conditions as stated in this study.

To study combustion chemistry at low temperatures in a shock tube, it is of great importance to increase experimental test times, and this can be done by tailoring the interface between the driver and driven gases. Using unconventional driver-gas tailoring with the assistance of tailoring curves, shock-tube test times were increased from 1 to 15 ms for reflected-shock temperatures below 1000 K. Provided in this thesis is the introduction of tailoring curves, produced from a 1-D perfect gas model for a wide range of driver gases and the production and demonstration of successful driver mixtures containing helium combined with either propane or carbon dioxide. The He/CO2 and He/C3H8 driver mixtures provide a unique way to produce a tailored interface and, hence, longer test times, when facility modification is not an option. The tailoring curves can be used to guide future applications of this technique to other configurations. Nonreacting validation experiments using driver mixtures identified from the tailoring curves were performed over a range of reflected-shock temperatures from approximately 800 to 1400 K, and some examples of ignition-time experiments that could not have otherwise been performed are presented.