Habilitationsschrift--Philosophische Fakultät--Bonn--Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, 1986. / Bibliogr. p. 341-357. Index.

Texte remanié de: Th. Ph. D.--Philadelphia--University of Pennsylvania, 1975. Titre de soutenance : El poema de mío Cid in the Crónica de veinte reyes prosification : a critical edition and study. / Bibliogr. p. 220-237.

This thesis is essentially a re-evaluation of two issues in the Poema de mio Cid that have largely "been ignored in the long-standing debate between the individualists and the traditionalists over the genesis of the poem. These are (i) the question of Castilian nationalism, and (ii) monastic influence on the epic. In the first issue, scholars and critics are generally in agreement that the PMC contains some very definite pro-Castilian and anti-Leonese sentiments, but the extent to which this political attitude is reflected in the work has yet to be determined. In the second issue, the theory that the epic in general had its origins in the monasteries situated along the pilgrim routes of Mediaeval Europe was first raised by the French scholar Joseph Bedier, but was refuted by the eminent Spanish academician Ramon Menendez Pidal. As such, to date, the only critic who has attempted to apply Bedier's theory to the PMC is P.E. Russell. In this thesis, these two issues are subjected to a close re-evaluation based upon the most recent findings "by the individualists who, since the death of Pidal and the publication of Colin Smith's edition of the poem, have revised many of the theories of the Spanish scholar. This study is divided into four chapters. In the first, the Spanish epic in general is examined briefly to determine its national^ istic and monastic content. Also included in this chapter is a relevant discussion of tomb-cults, relic-worship and pilgrimages during the Middle Ages. The second chapter focuses on the latest arguments presented by both the traditionalists and individualists on the problems of historicity, authorship and dating of the PMC. In the third chapter, the PMC is studied closely with a view to finding manifestations of Castilian nationalism in the poem's major characters, actions and themes. The final chapter deals with the issue of monastic influence on the PMC. Apart from the poem itself, the history of the monastery of San Pedro de Cardena and its relationship with the Cid in fact and fiction are examined. It will be seen from the last two chapters that the PMC contains more evidence of nationalistic fervour and monastic influence than is generally acknowledged. In other words, the poem exhibits some definite pro-Castilian and anti-Leonese sentiments. If we view the poem against the historical background of the period in which we believe it to have been written, the theory that the PMC was used for propaganda purposes becomes quite plausible. In the issue of monastic influence, again the possibility exists that the PMC was composed in San Pedro de Cardena. The evidence, not only in the poem itself, but also in the chronicles of Spain and the histories of the monastery all indicate that a strong Cid cult existed in the Cardena region after the death of the hero. It appears that the PMC was a part of this cult and may have been composed as the result of a crisis in the history of the monastery. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of organic molecules suggested to constitute roughly 20% of carbon in the interstellar medium (ISM). These species exist in both neutral and ionic forms and both are potentially involved in processes such as H2 formation. Catalyzing H2 formation necessarily involves the participation of hydrogenated PAHs as reaction intermediates. Employing tandem mass spectrometry and imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence spectroscopy and theory, we have explored the unimolecular reactions of five ionized hydrogenated PAHs that vary in degree and position of hydrogenation: tetralin (1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene), 9,10-dihydroanthracene (DHA+•), 1,2,3,4-tetra- and 1,2,3,4,9,10-hexa-hydrophenanthrene (THP+• and HHP+•) and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octahydroanthracene (OHA+•). The major reactions observed were the losses of the hydrocarbons CH3•, C2H4 and C3H5• together with H• atom loss. RRKM modeling of the iPEPICO data suggested that the unimolecular chemistries were based around a two-well potential energy surface in each case. Ionized tetralin can lose all four neutrals via H-shift and ring-opening reactions, or CH3• and C2H4 after interconversion to the 1-methylindane ion, a process similar to that found for ionized 1,2-dihydronaphthalene (isomerizing to form the 1-methylindene ion structure). DHA+• exhibits the same reactions previously observed for 1,2-dihydronaphthalene and 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene, namely competing loss of H• and CH3•. However, the energy required for H•-loss, as predicted by RRKM modeling of the iPEPICO results, was lower than the latter ions, presumably due to an expansion of the electron delocalization across the central ring upon dehydrogenation. OHA+• behaves similarly to ionized tetralin, displaying losses of H•, CH3•, C2H4 and C3H5• in its collision induced dissociation (CID) mass spectra, but under iPEPICO conditions CH3•-loss is not observed. THP+• iii and HHP+• have aspects of both DHA+• and OHA+• chemistries, displaying losses of H•, CH3•, C2H4 and C3H5•. Minimum energies for all observed reaction channels were thus obtained, together with selected mechanisms computationally explored at the B3-LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory. The trend in reactivity in going from tetralin and DHA+• to THP+•, HHP+• and ultimately OHA+• sees decreasing abundance of H• and CH3•-loss and an increasing dominance of the formation of C2H4, C3H5• and higher hydrocarbons with degree of hydrogenation as isomerization to a methyl-substituted ion becomes less significant. As this isomerization decreases in significance, the ions become sources of small hydrocarbon molecules and not hydrogen atoms or molecules.

Inaug.-Diss.--Bonn. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement, inserted. Vita. Bibliography: p. 6-15.

Inaug.-Diss.--Bonn. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement, inserted. Vita. Bibliography: p. 6-15.

ESI-MS spectra of Ni(II), Co(III), Mg(III), and Fe(II) porphyrin solutions in methanol show porphyrin monomer species with different charge states, such as [Ni(II)TPPS+H]3-, [Co(III)TPPS]3-, [Mn(III)TPPS]3-, [Mn(III)TPPS+H]2-, [Fe(II)TPPS+H]3-, and [Fe(II)TPPS+2H]2- ions. Collision-induced dissociation (CID) of these monomer species produced primarily losses of neutral SO3 and SO2. The mechanisms, in which these dissociation pathways took place, were investigated by the means of DFT calculations of the corresponding dissociation of neutral and ionized benzenesulfonate (B3-LYP/6-31+G(2d, p) level) and porphyrin monomer (B3-LYP/6-31+G(2d, p)+LANL2DZ//PM7 level). RRKM fitting of the CID breakdown curves showed that the activation energies of the reactions that experience a loss of SO2 from [Co(III)TPPS]3- and [Mn(III)TPPS]3- were similar, but of a lower magnitude than those for a loss of SO3. On the other hand, for [Ni(II)TPPS+H]3- and [Fe(II)TPPS+2H]2-, the activation energies of the reaction leading to a loss of SO2 were also similar, but this time were larger than those leading to SO3 loss. These results are consistent with a mechanism by which the SO2 loss starts with -C6H4SO3-, while the SO3 loss has to begin with -C6H4SO3H. To lose this SO3, extra energy is required for [Co(III)TPPS]3- and [Mn(III)TPPS]3- in order for them to overcome the barrier of H transfer from the porphyrin ring to -SO3-, but this is irrelevant when it comes to [Ni(II)TPPS+H]3- and [Fe(II)TPPS+2H]2- since the C6H4SO3H moiety already exists. In addition, the reaction of [Fe(II)TPPS+H]3- losing H leads to a unique dissociation mechanism.

In the last several decades, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been the subject of extensive investigation due to their presumed abundance in the interstellar medium (ISM). My thesis concentrated on investigating the dissociation of ionized PAH molecules in the gas phase under similar conditions of the ISM. The twelve PAHs studied were naphthalene (NAP), anthracene (ANT), phenanthrene (PHN), cyclopenta[d,e,f] phenanthrene (CYC), pyrene (PYR), fluoranthene (FLN), perylene (PER) and coronene (COR). In addition, two dihydro PAHs were studied to examine potential intermediates in H2 catalysis, 1,2-dihydronaphthalene (DHN) and 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene (DHP), and two stabilized fragments of PAHs, acenaphthylene (ACE), fluorene-H (FLU). These ions were studied using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) to generate the ions and the fragmentation was produced by collision-induced dissociation (CID). The CID experiments were done at different lab frame collision energies to produce breakdown curves for all fragments in each molecule. These curves were fitted by using Rice – Ramsperger-Kassel- Marcus (RRKM) theory to derive the activation energy (E0) at 0K and the entropy of activation (∆‡ S) for each reaction. The primary dissociation channel observed was H loss and this fragmentation channel was a common fragment to all PAHs molecules studied. Also, there were other fragments (CH3, C2H2, C4H2) observed in all of these molecules studied except perylene and coronene. The final step in this project was to compare these results with results derived from imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence spectroscopy (iPEPICO) reported by West and co-workers in order to determine the suitability of the APCI-CID technique for deriving reliable kinetic parameters for this class of ions.

L'émergence de disciplines post-génomiques, telles que la protéomique et la métabolomique, requiert le développement d'outils analytiques toujours plus performants afin de déterminer, respectivement, l'ensemble des peptides et protéines et des composés organiques de faible masse moléculaire présents dans un milieu biologique. En raison de sa sensibilité, spécificité et rapidité d'acquisition des données, la désorption/ionisation laser assistée par une matrice (MALDI) constitue une des méthodes d'ionisation majeure en spectrométrie de masse (MS) permettant d'envisager les analyses de ces composés. Cependant, elle présente des limitations pour la détection de petites molécules (<700 Da) due à la présence des ions de matrice dans les basses masses du spectre. Dans ce contexte, le potentiel de différentes techniques LDI alternatives a été évalué dans le cadre de la détection de peptides synthétiques de compositions et de tailles variées. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, de nouvelles stratégies analytiques LDI-MS et LDI-MS/MS basées sur l'utilisation de matrices inertes ont été développées. Pour ce faire, des substrats, à base de silice et de titane présentant différentes structurations, ont été utilisés pour assister la désorption/ionisation sans ajout de matrice organique. L'optimisation des méthodologies a été réalisée, puis l'évaluation de la sensibilité et de la reproductibilité des techniques a ensuite été appréciée. Les problématiques de discrimination spectrale dans le cas d'analyses de mélanges de peptides synthétiques et ou issus de digestats trypsiques de protéines ont été abordées afin de valider ces méthodologies LDI pour des applications en protéomique. Les performances des méthodes ont été comparées à celles obtenues dans des stratégies LDI assistées par des matrices organiques (MALDI) pour des échantillons de peptides synthétiques seuls et en mélange ainsi que de quatre digestats trypsiques issus du Cytochrome C (12 kDa), de la β-Caséine (24 kDa), de l'albumine de sérum bovin (BSA, 66 kDa) et du fibrinogène (340 kDa). Un second aspect a consisté en l'analyse de peptide en spectrométrie de masse en tandem. Pour cela, des expériences de dissociation de peptides en fragmentation basse et haute énergie respectivement sur des appareillages de type ESI-QqTOF et MALDI-TOF/TOF ont été menées. Les résultats obtenus ont contribué à une meilleure compréhension du séquençage peptidique et ont démontré des comportements particuliers propres à certaines séquences observés quelles que soient les méthodes d'activation vibrationnelle employées. La présence de résidus basiques, à partir du moment où ils ne se trouvent pas en position C-terminale, a été déterminante pour déclencher des voies de fragmentation en compétition avec les dissociations bx-yn attendues. Ces comportements doivent être impérativement pris en compte par les logiciels de séquençage. / The advent of proteomics and metabolomics require the development of highly efficient analytical tool in order to detect and identify peptides and proteins as well as small organic compounds present in biological media. Due to its sensitivity, specificity and speed of data acquisition, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization constitutes one of the major ionization methods in mass spectrometry suitable for the analyses of biomolecules. However the sensitive detection of low molecular weight compounds (<700 Da) is most of the time troublesome, being hampered by the production of matrix ions in the low mass range. In that case, the potency of various alternative LDI techniques based on inert ionization promoting substrates was evaluated for the detection of synthetic peptides presenting wide sequence diversity. Silicon and titanium based materials exhibiting different physico-chemical properties were probed for LDI-MS and LDI-MS/MS analyses of the designed model peptides. These methods, which were devoted of the use of any organic matrix, were optimized through a large set of experiments, taking particular attention to detection sensitivity and reproducibility. Spectral discrimination was another matter of concern, especially in the case of peptide mixture analyses which is encountered in proteomics for tryptic digest elucidation. The performances of the design LDI methods were compared with the original MALDI technique for peptide detection and sequencing from various samples i.e. pure and mixed synthetic peptides, and four tryptic digests issued from Cytochrome C (12 kDa), β-Casein (24 kDa), Bovin serum albumin (BSA, 66 kDa) and fibrinogen (340 kDa). A second research topic dealing with peptide sequencing by MS/MS technologies was pursued in order to contribute to the knowledge of the fragmentation rules. Vibrational activation methods through various mass analyzer configurations (MALDI-TOF/TOF, ESI-QqTOF) were investigated. Specific dissociation behaviors were extracted from the recorded MS/MS data sets. The presence of basic residues, provided that they are not located at the peptide C-terminal end, triggered specific backbone fragmentation in competition to the expected bx-yn pathway. This was found to be a critical issue to be considered by sequencing softwares.

Infectious diseases remain a threat to critically ill patients, particularly with the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Septic shock carries a mortality of up to ∼40% with no compelling evidence of promising therapy to reduce morbidity or mortality. Septic shock survivors are also prone to nosocomial infections. Treatment with toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) agonists have demonstrated significant protection against common nosocomial pathogens in various clinically relevant models of infection and septic shock. TLR4 agonists are derived from a bacteria cell wall or synthesized de novo, and more recently novel small molecule TLR4 agonists have also been developed. TLR4 agonists augment innate immune functions including expansion and recruitment of innate leukocytes to the site of infection. Recent studies demonstrate TLR4-induced leukocyte metabolic reprogramming of cellular metabolism to improve antimicrobial function. Metabolic changes include sustained augmentation of macrophage glycolysis, mitochondrial function, and tricarboxylic acid cycle flux. These findings set the stage for the use of TLR4 agonists as standalone therapeutic agents or antimicrobial adjuncts in patient populations vulnerable to nosocomial infections.