<p>The electronic structures of the nucleobases, 5-fluorouracil compounds, DNA, metallic
DNA, and samples of boron nitride are investigated. Soft X-ray absorption (XAS) and
emission (XES) spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation are used to probe the
unoccupied and occupied partial densities of electronic states, respectively. Hartree-Fock
and density functional theory calculations have been included to compare with
experimental results.</p>
<p>A systematic approach to understanding the complicated electronic structure of DNA
and metallic DNA systems is to initially examine smaller components. Detailed
experiment and theory for both absorption and emission spectroscopy was. performed
for the nucleobases and 5-fluorouracil compounds. Main transitions in the XAS and
XES spectra are identified. X-ray spectroscopy has proven to be extremely sensitive to
changes in the environment of various DNA samples. The local chemical environment
plays an important role in determining the electronic structure of DNA. In agreement
with previous results indicating metallic DNA is more efficient at the transfer of
electrons than DNA, XES measurements reveal that there are a higher number of
charge carriers in the metallic system. Both liquid and powder samples of (Ni)·M-DNA
are found to have a high spin Ni(II) configuration. The drying process
significantly alters the electronic structure of the metallic DNA sample. A comparison
of high quality single crystals and thin films of boron nitride found that differences
between the electronic structures of the nanocrystalline films and the single crystal
samples exist, and the surface roughness of the substrate plays an important role in
determining the structure of the resulting deposited film.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-07092012-140639 |
| Date | 09 July 2012 |
| Creators | MacNaughton, Janay Brianne |
| Contributors | Moewes, Alexander |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | University of Saskatchewan Library |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-07092012-140639/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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