Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1929. / Vita. Bibliography: p. [38-39].

1-(o-(Dimethylamino)phenyl)-3-phenylprop-2-en-1-one (62), 3-(o-(dimethylamino)phenyl)-1-phenylpropenone (63) and 1-(o-(dimethyl- amino)phenyl)-3-phenylprop-2-yn-1-one (64) were synthesized and their pyrolytic and photolytic chemistry were studied. Flash vacuum pyrolysis (FVP) of 62 and 64 gave 11H-benzo[a]carbazole (72) and benzo[c]carba-zole (73), FVP of 63 gave phenanthrene (2) and 1-methylquinolin-2(1H)-one (84). Under photolytic conditions, 62 and 64 gave the expected photocyclic products 1-methyl-2-phenylquinolin-4-one (65), while 63 gave the expected photocyclic products (1-methyl-1H-indol-2-yl)phenyl-methanone (66).

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Duy H. Hua / The discovery of new methodologies to advance the fields of synthetic organic, nanoclusters, and polymer chemistry is critical in the asymmetric synthesis of organic compounds. Particularly, catalytic asymmetric oxidation reactions are economic. The oxidation reactions provide chiral molecules and additional functionality onto the molecules for functional group manipulation. New kinds of polymers, namely chiral-substituted poly-N-vinylpyrrolidinones (CSPVPs), stabilize the bimetallic nanoclusters such as Pd/Au or Cu/Au and induce chirality. These chiral polymers wrap around the nanometer-sized (~3 nm) bimetallic nanoclusters and catalyze a number of enantioselective oxidation reactions using oxygen or hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant. Cycloalkanediols were asymmetrically oxidized by 1 atm of oxygen gas to yield the corresponding hydroxyl ketone under the catalysis of Pd/Au (3:1) – CSPVP nanoclusters. Alkenes were oxidized by Pd/Au (3:1)-CSPVP nanoclusters under 2 atmospheric of oxygen in water to give the syn-dihydroxylated products in high chemical and excellent optical yields. Various cycloalkanes underwent regio- and enantio-selective C-H oxidation with Cu/Au (3:1)-CSPVP and 30% hydrogen peroxide to produce the corresponding chiral oxo-molecules in very good to excellent chemical and optical yields. We further discovered an enantioselective desymmetrization of , -dialkenyl-alkanols and , -dialkenyl-amino acid ethyl esters to give chiral disubstituted lactones and lactams, respectively. A number of medium-sized natural products and drugs were also oxidized regioselectively to give the corresponding mono-oxygenated products. A broad-spectrum predictive C-H oxidation of complex molecules is possible. Chapter 1 mainly discussed the synthesis and characterization of the new classes of chiral substituted PVP and bimetallic nanoclusters. Chapter 2 focus on various kind of oxidation reactions by the catalysis of CSPVP stabilized bimetallic nanoclusters. Among various bioluminescence assays, firefly luciferase based bioluminescence assays are popular due to their high specific activity, low background noise and ease of use. However, it has been found that some aromatic carboxylic acid substantially inhibited the firefly luciferase reporter enzyme’s activity. In order to study firefly luciferase inhibition and the proteins associated with inhibition mechanism, we designed two 6-(dimethylamino)-2-phenylisoindolin-1-one derivatives as probe molecules. The synthesis of one probe molecule is discussed in Chapter 3 and the further investigation of its inhibitory activity on firefly luciferase is being conducted by our collaborate.

Amphiphilic polymers are a class of polymers that self-assemble into different types of microstructure, depending on the solvent environment and external stimuli. Self assembly structures can exist in many different forms, such as spherical micelles, rod-like micelles, bi-layers, vesicles, bi-continuous structure etc. Most biological systems are basically comprised of many of these organised structures arranged in an intelligent manner, which impart functions and life to the system. We have adopted the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) technique to synthesize various types of block copolymer systems that self-assemble into different microstructure when subject to an external stimuli, such as pH or temperature. The systems that we have studied are: (1) pH responsive fullerene (C60) containing poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA-b-C60); (2) pH and temperature responsive fullerene containing poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (C₆₀-b-PDMAEMA); (3) other responsive water-soluble fullerene systems. By varying temperature, pH and salt concentration, different types microstructure can be produced. In the presence of inorganic salts, fractal patterns at nano- to microscopic dimension were observed for negatively charged PMAA-b-C60, while such structure was not observed for positively charged PDMAEMA-b-C60. We demonstrated that negatively charged fullerene containing polymeric systems can serve as excellent nano-templates for the controlled growth of inorganic crystals at the nano- to micrometer length scale and the possible mechanism was proposed. The physical properties and the characteristics of their self-assembly properties will be discussed, and their implications to chemical and biomedical applications will be highlighted. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

No / The synthesis and crystal structure of the lithium hydrate salt of the charge transfer complex between 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid and 4-(dimethylamino) benzoic acid is reported. It is the first crystal structure reported for such a class of hybrid inorganic/organic material. The design principles may have utility in the future creation of new ternary and higher complexes.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemical Engineering / Keith L. Hohn / To characterize surface properties by current techniques, metal oxides typically have to be pre-treated at high temperature to remove surface absorbents. Therefore, a new low temperature method which can provide information on the surface chemistry is desired. In this work, the surface properties of metal oxide samples were studied by tetrakis(dimethylamino)ethylene (TDE) chemiluminescence (CL). This chemiluminescent method was also employed in probing the properties of reversed microemulsions. It was found that the emission intensity vs. reaction time curve (I[subscript]t) of catalyzed TDE CL on MgO was affected by the distributions and types of surface hydroxyl groups. Isolated hydroxyls with lower coordination were found to have higher catalytic reactivity for the emission of TDE CL. Although hydrogen bonded hydroxyls also catalyze the TDE oxidation reaction, the influence on the light emission was negative. Because the properties of surface hydroxyls are associated with specific orientations of adjacent ions, information on surface hydroxyls can provide information about some general surface characteristics of a metal oxide. When characterizing surface hydroxyls on Al[subscript]2O[subscript]3 by TDE CL, it was found that the catalytic reactivity of isolated hydroxyl groups is strongly associated with the stretching frequency of isolated hydroxyl. The stretching frequency of an isolated hydroxyl group is related to the modification of the adjacent ions and the coordination of the isolated hydroxyl. The results showed that the blue-shifts in the stretching frequencies of isolated hydroxyls led to increases in the catalytic reactivity of Al[subscript]2O[subscript]3 surfaces for the emission of TDE CL. TDE CL was further applied in characterizing the surfaces of other metal oxides and chemically grafted Al[subscript]2O[subscript]3. The results indicated that the isolated hydroxyl groups with fewer adjacent ions likely have higher affinity for the binding of grafting agents. Higher emission intensities were obtained from catalyzed TDE CL on metal oxides featuring higher percentages of isolated hydroxyls. The determination of a surfactant’s critical micellar concentration was accomplished by measuring the decay rate of the emission of TDE CL in a reversed microemulsion system. In this study, the CMC values of non-ionic and ionic surfactants were measured in different non-polar solvents.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Duy H. Hua / Three research projects are described in this dissertation, and they are: (i) discovery of piperidine derivatives as T-type calcium channel inhibitors for the treatment of epilepsy and neuropathic pain and as protein disulfide isomerase inhibitors for the treatment of influenza viral infection; (ii) discovery of peptide-based calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonists for the treatment of inflammatory pain; and (iii) synthesis of substituted 6-(dimethylamino)-2-phenylisoindolin-1-ones for the inhibition of luciferase. T-type calcium channels are important regulators of nervous system, and upregulated T-type calcium channel activities have been found to link to various types of neurological disorders, such as epilepsy and neuropathic pain. To discover novel T-type calcium channel blockers, a series of 1,4-disubstituted piperidine derivatives were designed and synthesized. Among them, compound 1-4 was found to be a good T-type calcium channel inhibitor with an IC₅₀ of 1 nM for Ca[subscript v]3.2 inhibition. It also showed 86% suppression of seizure induced death in mice and good in vivo analgesic effects on both thermal and mechanical pain thresholds in Spared Nerve Injury rat models. Therefore 1-4 can potentially be used as a T-type calcium channel blocker in the treatment of epilepsy and neuropathic pain. Influenza is a respiratory viral infection. Since viruses rely on host cell proteins for their entry, survival and replication, development of drugs targeting host cell proteins has identified as an effective strategy in controlling viral infections. We synthesized a series of 1,4-disubstituted piperidine derivatives for the inhibition of protein disulfide isomerase enzyme and influenza. Among them, 1-29 was found to possess strong anti-influenza activity (EC₅₀ = 2.5 µM). This suggests the potential use of piperidine scaffold in designing anti-influenza drugs in future. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonism has been identified as a successful approach for the treatment of inflammatory pain. Therefore, a novel class of peptide antagonists of CGRP receptor was synthesized and screened for their binding affinities to the CGRP receptor and their analgesic effects on inflammatory-induced pain in rats. Among them, peptide 2-3 showed a higher binding affinity towards the CGRP receptor than previously reported peptide antagonists and exhibited analgesic effects up to 2 h in both Aδ and c-fiber pain tests. Therefore 2-3 indicates its potential use as a CGRP receptor antagonist in the treatment of inflammatory pain. Firefly luciferase is commonly used as a reporter in cells expressing a luciferase gene or its enzymatic activity under the control of a promoter of interest to assess its transcriptional activity. It has been found that some molecules such as molecules with carboxylic acid moiety can directly inhibit luciferase activity in cells. However, it is suggested that carboxylic acid moiety of the compounds may also be associated with side reactions in cells. Therefore, to study whether carboxylic acid moiety causes side effects, we designed two probe molecules, 3-1 and 3-2. Synthesis of probe molecule 3-2 is discussed. Synthesis of probe molecule 3-1 and further investigation of its luciferase inhibition will therefore be useful to understand the toxicity of carboxylic acid containing drugs in future.

No description available.

With the emergence of novel and more effective drug therapies, increased importance is being placed upon the methods by which these drugs are being delivered to the body. In conventional drug delivery systems, there is very little control over the release of drug. The effective concentration at the target site can be achieved by intermittent administration of grossly excessive doses, which, often results in constantly, unpredictable variations in plasma concentrations, with the risk of reaching levels below or above the therapeutic range leading to marked side effects. A plethora of formulation strategies mainly based on polymeric/lipid nanoparticles, are described in literature. Even though these systems are therapeutically advantageous in comparison to conventional systems, they remain insensitive to the changing metabolic states of the body although the symptoms of most metabolic diseases follow a rhythmic pattern.A more appropriate and effective approach of managing some of these conditions lies in the chronotherapy. This approach allows for pulsed or self-regulated drug delivery which is adjusted to the staging of biological rhythms, since the onset of certain diseases exhibits strong circadian temporal dependence. In order to reach the objective of mimicking the biophysical and biochemical processes of pathological states, many innovations in material design for drug delivery systems (DDS) that are able to release the therapeutic payload-on-demand were done to release the therapeutic agent only when it is required, according to the physiological need. The development of multidisciplinary research teams has brought huge advantages in the design, fabrication and utilization of such smart systems, especially in the pharmaceutical field. Interestingly, numerous smart polymeric materials exhibit a response to a specific stimulus. A step further, the elaboration of purpose-built monomers can give rise to compounds with tunable sensitivities or multi-stimuli responsiveness. These smart polymers demonstrate an active responsiveness to environmental (or external) signals and change their physicochemical properties as designed (e.g. conformation, solubility, shape, charge or size). As far as the stimuli are concerned, they consist of physical (e.g. temperature, ultrasound, light, electricity, magnetic or mechanical stress), chemical (e.g. pH, ionic strength) and biological signals (e.g. enzymes, biomolecules). Due to the intrapersonal variabilities which may make internal stimuli hazardous, externally controlled systems rely on externally applied stimuli that are produced by stimuli-generating devices, which results in pulsed drug delivery. This type of delivery may be rapid and allows a transient release of a determined amount of drug within a short period of time immediately after a pre-determined off-release period. A novel strategy for the formation of multi-stimuli responsive materials endowed with pH, magnetic and light sensitivity was achieved. The approach relied on the incorporation of magnetic tetrahalogenoferrate(III) anions along a polymeric backbone based on poly(2-(N,N-dimethylamino) ethyl meth-acrylate) (PDMAEMA). Starting from the same PDMAEMA, quaternized pending amine groups with various halide derivatives gave rise to magnetic materials after anion metathesis. Measuring the magnetic susceptibility of these materials exhibited that the magnetic susceptibility increased as the substituted group size decreased (become smaller) which was apparently related to the steric hindrance around the ionic pendants. Additionally, a good correlation between the magnetic susceptibility and ferric content was found. Additional experimental and theoretical Raman analyses allowed the determination of the nature of the magnetic species constituting the materials. This strategy further offers the opportunity to tailor the magnetic response through partial ammonium salt formation. In order to merge the magnetic properties of ferric-based materials with another stimuli-responsive functionality, random copolymers containing DMAEMA (D) with diazobenzene (A) unit were prepared. So, three copolymers PDA were synthesized (with targeted D/A ratios 4/6 (PDA4), 6/4 (PDA6) and 8/2 (PDA8)). Meanwhile, different degrees of amine quaternization (10, 50 and 100 %) were applied, which led to the following polymeric salts PDAX/Y where X = 4, 6, 8 (referring to the percentage of the DMAEMA unit) and Y = 10, 50 and 100 (referring to the percentage of quaternized amine groups). Finally, the aforementioned materials were converted into magnetic polymers by anion exchange. As a result, magnetic responses correlated well with amount of iron oxide in these compounds and the amount of ionic pending groups along the backbone. Moreover, the remaining tertiary amines conferred pH sensitivity to the polymers whereas the diazobenzene units ensured light responsiveness through the well-established trans-to-cis isomerization.In order to functionalize these materials in the pharmaceutical field, an intelligent delivery system was prepared. Firstly, an attempt to formulate riboflavin-5’-phosphate sodium (RPS) loaded on PDA8 microspheres was made using double emulsion evaporation method. Meanwhile, prednisolone (PRD) microspheres were prepared using s/o/w emulsion technique. Subsequently, coating systems of cochineal red tablets were developed. These tablets were coated with polymer solution (using each of three types of copolymers: PDA8, PDA6, and PDA4) until the desired percentage of the coating was achieved (10, 15, and 20 % w/w). The cumulative release profiles of cochineal red tablets coated with PDA8, PDA6, and PDA4 showed a pH-sensitive release behavior. The release in the neutral media (pH ≈ 7.0) was very slow (less than 3 % after one hour). Then, after changing the pH to 1.2, an increase in the release of cochineal was observed. Furthermore, the cumulative release of cochineal red was at the highest value for the PDA8 and the lowest for PDA4 depending on the percentage of PDMAEMA moieties. Moreover, by increasing the percentage of the coating from (10, 15 to 20 % w/w), the cumulative release of cochineal decreased. Therefore, the copolymer PDAX can be used for controlling the release of drug by changing the pH value.Finally, the cochineal tablets coated with PDA6 (10 %) showed features of light sensitivity. The release of cochineal red from coated tablets was only due to the switching in the conformational trans/cis isomerization of azobenzene moieties upon irradiation, which was confirmed by comparing the release of coated tablets with uncoated tablets upon irradiation. / Doctorat en Sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques (Pharmacie) / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished