Immobilization of fluorescent chemosensors and chromogenic reagents on solid supports for developing optical sensors result in improved analytical performance characteristics such as continuous read-out, increased sensitivity, lower reagent consumption and possibility of using the sensor in solvents where the free molecule displays low solubility. The aim of this study is to immobilize dansylaminophenyl boronic acid (DAPB acid) and diphenylcarbazide (DPC) into various solid supports for the determination of fructose and hexavalent chromium, respectively. DAPB acid reacts with diol containing molecules to produce electron transfer resulting fluorescence quenching. Whereas DPC reacts specifically with chromate to produce a magenta colored complex having absorption maximum at 540 nm. Utilizing sol-gel technology, inorganic polymer matrices which enabled to observe fluorescence and absorbance signal in VIS region has been constructed. Also methylmethacrylate (MMA) and methacrylic acid (MAA), which are known to give transparent organic co-polymers, are chosen as monomers in the synthesis of organic copolymer. Hydrogels such as polyvinyl alcohol and Ca-alginate gel have been utilized for their good optical characteristics in the working range. Several considerations in the construction of host matrix were taken into account, such as the porosity of the polymers, functionalization of the matrix and use of additives for increasing the affinity of the medium toward the dopant molecule and swelling properties of organic polymers. The performances of the immobilizations were evaluated in terms of the transmittance and leaching properties of the host matrix, optical properties of dopant and optical response characteristic of the dopant for the analyte. The sensor applications of the immobilized probe molecule DPC were investigated. Studies regarding the enhancement of the performance of the flow injection analysis method for fructose determination, previously carried out in our laboratory, based on the fluorescence quenching of DAPB acid probe in solution were stated.

Thiophene ended poly(ethylene oxide) (ThPEO) and random copolymer (RPEO) of 3-methylthienyl methacrylate and p-vinylbenzyloxy poly (ethyleneoxide) units were synthesized chemically. Further graft copolymerization of RPEO and ThPEO with pyrrole (Py) and thiophene (Th) were achieved in H2O - sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), H2O - p-toluenesulphonic acid (PTSA) and acetonitrile (AN) - tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate (TBAFB) solvent electrolyte couples via constant potential electrolyses. Characterizations were performed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The morphologies of the films were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Conductivities of the samples were measured by using four-probe technique. Moreover, spectroelectrochemical and electrochromic properties of the copolymers obtained from thiophene were investigated by UV-Vis spectrometry and colorimetry. . Immobilizations of alcohol oxidase and polyphenol oxidase enzymes were performed in the matrices obtained via copolymerization of ThPEO and RPEO with pyrrole. Immobilization was carried out via entrapment of enzyme in matrices during the polymerization of pyrrole. Temperature optimization, operational stability and shelf-life of the enzyme electrodes were investigated. Maximum reaction rate (Vmax) and Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) were determined. It is known that wine includes phenolic groups that give astringency in high concentrations. Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) converts mono and diphenols to quinone. By analyzing the product, one can find out the amount of phenolic groups. By using the enzyme electrodes via immobilization of PPO, amount of phenolics in different wines were analyzed.

ABSTRACT BIOSENSOR BASED ON INTERPENETRATED POLYMER NETWORK OF ALGINIC ACID AND POLY (1-VINYLIMIDAZOLE) Kartal, M&uuml / jgan M.S., Department of Chemistry Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Levent Toppare January 2008, 63 pages A new proton conductor polymer was prepared using alginic acid (AA) and poly (1-vinylimidazole) (PVI). The polymer network was obtained by mixing AA and PVI at various stoichiometric ratios, x (molar ratio of the monomer repeat units). The AA/PVI network was characterized by elemental analysis (EA) and FT-IR spectroscopy. Potential use of this network in enzyme immobilization was studied. Enzyme entrapped polymer networks (EEPN) were produced by immobilizing invertase and tyrosinase (PPO) in the AA/PVI network. Additionally, the maximum reaction rate (Vmax) and Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) were investigated for the immobilized invertase and enzymes. Also, temperature and pH optimization, operational stability and shelf life of the polymer network were examined.

The main object of the presented study was investigation of the use of cross-linked enzyme (tyrosinase) aggregates (CLTA) obtained from crude mushroom extract for a rapid phenolic content analysis in wines. In addition, a comparison of phenolic characteristics of Turkish red wines was performed. Reproducible and reliable results in total phenolic measurement were obtained with CLTAs similar to pure tyrosinase and tyrosinase obtained from crude mushroom extract. Measurement of total phenolic content is possible both in standard solutions and in complex matrices, such as wine. In a very short time period, 10 seconds, phenolics content in red and white wines produced from grapes of Turkey were investigated by using CLTAs. Results were consistent when compared to a well known phenolic measurement method, Folin-Ciocalteau. CLTAs exhibited very high operational stability and retained more than 90% of its activity after 30th use. Moreover, it showed good shelf-life stability for about 2 months storage by maintaining 90% of its maximum activity. So, use of CLTAs prepared from crude mushroom extract is an effective, fast and cheap alternative in total phenolics measurements in wines. Moreover, a novel catalase phenoloxidase (CATPO) produced by a fungal microorganism, Scytalidium thermophilum, was studied to check its capabilities in phenolics measurements. This novel catalase phenol oxidase showed similarly good results, exhibiting widesubstrate selectivity.

Thrombus formation and blood coagulation is a major problem associated with blood contacting products such as catheters, vascular grafts and artificial hearts. An intense research is being conducted towards the synthesis of new hemocompatible materials and mdifications of surfaces with biological molecules. In this study, polyurethane (PU) films were synthesized in medical purity from diisocyanate and polyol without using any other ingredients and the chemical, thermal and mechanical properties were characterized by solid state NMR, FTIR, GPC, mechanical tests, DMA and TGA. The surfaces of PU films were modified by covalent immobilization of different molecular weight heparins / low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) and unfractionated heparin (UFH) and these surfaces were examined by ESCA, ATR-FTIR, AFM and contact angle goniometer. Cell adhesion studies were conducted with whole human blood and examined by SEM. The effects of different types of heparins on blood protein adsorption and on platelet adhesion were analyzed by electrophresis and SEM, respectively. The surfaces of the UFH immobilized polyurethane films (PU-UFH) resulted in lesser red blood cell adhesion in comparison to LMWH immobilized polyurethane film surfaces (PU-LMWH). When the PU films were treated with blood plasma, the surfaces modified with two different heparin types showed a clearly different protein adsorption behavior especially in the early stage of blood plasma interaction. PU-LMWH samples showed about three times less protein adsorption compared to PU-UFH samples. The morphologies of platelets adhered on material surfaces demonstrated differences / such as PU-UFH had clusters with some pseudopodia extensions, while PU-LMWH had round shaped platelets with little clustering. PU surfaces modified by immobilization of LMWH and UFH, demonstrated promising results for the improvement of non-thrombogenic devices and surfaces.

In this study various microbial and enzymatic methods developed for enantioselective acyloin synthesis for preparation of some pharmaceutically important intermediates. By performing Aspergillus flavus (MAM 200120) mediated biotransformation, enantioselective bio-oxidation of meso-hydrobenzoin was achieved with a high ee value (76%). Racemic form of hydrobenzoin was also employed for the same bio-oxidation process and this bioconversion was resulted in accumulation of meso form (&gt / 90% yield) confirming the suggested mechanism of oxidation-reduction sequence of hydrobenzoin. Wieland-Miescher ketone (3,4,8,8a-tetrahydro-8a-methylnaphthalene-1,6(2H,7H)-dione) is an important starting material for bioactive compounds like steroids and terpenoids. Many synthetic approaches include enantioselective reduction of this compound. In this study Aspergillus niger (MAM 200909) mediated reduction of Wieland-Miescher ketone was achieved with a high yield (80%), de (79%) and ee (94%) value and these results were found much more superior than previously reported studies. Carboligating enzymes benzaldehyde lyase (BAL) (EC 4.1.2.38) and benzoiyl formate decarboxilase (BFD) (E.C. 4.1.1.7) are used for biocatalytic acyloin synthesis. These enzymes are immobilized to surface modified superparamagnetic silica coated nanoparticles by using metal ion affinity technique. With this system recombinant histidine tagged BAL and BFD purified and immobilized to magnetic particles by one-pot purification-immobilization procedure. SDS page analysis showed that our surface modified magnetic particles were eligible for specific binding of histidine tagged proteins. Conventional BAL and BFD catalyzed benzoin condenzation reactions and some representative acyloin reactions were performed with this system with a high enantioselectivity (99-92%) and yield. Results obtained with magnetic particle-enzyme system were also found comparable with that of free enzyme catalyzed reactions.

The production of enantiopure compounds can be achieved by using dehydrogenases as biocatalysts catalyzing reduction reactions of prochiral compounds such as ketones, aldehydes and nitriles. These dehydrogenases are cofactor dependent enzyme where cofactor is Nicotinamide dinucleotite having some restrictions that limits usage of dehydrogenases in organic synthesis including instability of cofactor in water and high cost. Therefore suitable regeneration method is needed and developed which are enzymatic and electrochemical. We will use an electrochemical approach for the regeneration of reduced co-factors which has been shown in principal with mediators like pentamethylcyclopentadienyl rhodium bipyridine complexes or ferrocenes. This project is European Union project, whose name is Development of Electrochemical Reactors Using Dehydrogenases for Enantiopure Synthon Preparations. All active compounds / mediator, cofactor and enzyme, will be immobilized on the electrode surface of the constructed reactor surface. Therefore only educts and v products will exist in the reactor medium. A gas diffusion electrode will be employed as a counter electrode / which delivers clear protons to the system. Mediator will carry electrons to the cofactor for cofactor regeneration. Then enzyme will use the cofactor and convert substrates to the product in high stereoselectivity. Our part in this project is the synthesis of mediator and suitable linkers for enzyme, cofactor and mediator immobilization. In the first part of the study, Linkers which contain thiol group and disulfide linkage were synthesized because working electrode made of by gold nano particles and immobilization carried out by the help of these groups on gold nano surface. In the second part of the study, mediators were synthesized which are pentamethylcyclopentadienyl rhodium bipyridine complexes and ferrocene derivatives. Synthesized mediators were reacted with linkers by using Click Chemistry and by imine formation in order to convert mediator to the thiol functionalized form.

The aim of this study was to investigate the viability of patterning by immobilization, photocatalytic removal, and re-immobilization steps of the enzyme on photocatalytically active thin films for biosensor fabrication purposes. For this aim, TiO2-SiO2-Au sol-gel colloids were synthesized and deposited on glass substrates as thin films by dip coating. Cysteamine linker was assembled on gold nanoparticles to functionalize thin films with amine groups for immobilization of model enzyme invertase. Effect of immobilization temperature, enzyme concentration of the immobilization solution and immobilization period on invertase immobilization were investigated. The immobilized invertase activity was found independent from the immobilization temperature in the range tested (4oC-room temperature). The optimum enzyme concentration and period for immobilization was determined as 10&micro / g/ml and 12 hours respectively. The resulting invertase immobilized thin films showed high storage stability retaining more that 50% of their initial activity after 9 weeks of storage. Photocatalytic enzyme removal and re-immobilization studies were carried out by irradiating the invertase immobilized thin films with blacklight. Upon 30 minutes of irradiation, immobilized invertase was completely and irreversibly inactivated. Initial immobilized invertase activity (before the irradiation) was attained when invertase was re-immobilized on thin films that were irradiated for 5 hours. Thus it was inferred that with sufficient exposure, enzymes can be completely removed from the surfaces which makes the re-immobilization possible. The possibility of enzyme removal with photocatalytic activity and re-immobilization can pave the way to new patterning techniques to produce multi-enzyme electrode arrays.

The aim of this study was to immobilize the redox enzyme laccase over TiO2-SiO2-Au thin film coated ITO glass substrates in order to prepare electrochemically active surfaces for biosensor applications. Colloidal TiO2-SiO2-Au solution was synthesized by sol-gel route and thin film was deposited onto the substrates by dipcoating method. The cysteamine was utilized as a linker for immobilization of enzyme covalently through gold active sites. Preliminary studies were conducted by using invertase as model enzyme and Pyrex glasses as substrates. The effect of immobilization parameters such as immobilization temperature, concentration of enzyme deposition solution, immobilization time for laccase were examined. Leakage studies were conducted and storage stability of immobilized laccase was determined. Highest laccase activity was achieved when immobilization was performed with 50 &micro / g/ml solution at 4&deg / C for 2 hours. Laccase activity decreased after 4 hours of impregnation in enzyme solution. Laccase leakage was observed in the first usage of substrates and 55% activity decrease was determined in the subsequent use which might be attributed to the presence of uncovalently adsorbed enzyme on the fresh samples. In air and in buffer storage stabilities were also tested. It was found that the activity of samples almost vanished after 6 days regardless of storage conditions. Both enzymes had more activity on ITO substrate.

By mixing different stoichiometric ratios of chitosan with alginic acid (AA) and chitosan with p(toluenesulfonicacid) (PTSA), two new polymer networks were prepared. FT-IR spectroscopy results show the protonation of chitosan by AA and PTSA. Elemental analysis (EA) results show the composition of the networks. Thermal gravimetry analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results were used to characterize the thermal stability of the networks. Then, cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) enzyme were immobilized in these networks and checked for potential use of these enzyme entrapped polymer networks (EEPN) for enzyme immobilization. Additionally, the maximum reaction rate (Vmax) and Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) were evaluated for immobilized ChOx in these two polymer networks. Also, temperature and pH optimization, operational stability, shelf-life and the proton conductivity of these networks were investigated.