The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the combination of experimental and computational methods in the search for reproducible colloidal surface-enhanced Raman scattering of pharmaceutical compounds. In the search for optimal experimental conditions for colloidal surface-enhance Raman scattering, the amphipathic β-blocker propranolol was used as the target molecule. Fractional factorial designs of experiments were performed and a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm was used to find acceptable solutions, from the results, that were Pareto ranked. The multiobjective evolutionary algorithm suggested solutions outside of the fractional factorial design and the experiments were then performed in the laboratory. The results observed from the suggested solutions agreed with the solutions that were found on the Pareto front. One of the experimental conditions observed on the Pareto front was then used to determine the practical limit of detection of propranolol. The experimental conditions that were chosen for the limit of detection took into account reproducibility and enhancement, the two most important parameters for analytical detection using surface-enhanced Raman scattering. The principal conclusion to this study was that the combination of computational and experimental methods can reduce the need for experiments by > 96% and then selecting solutions from the Pareto front improved limit of detection by a factor of 24.5 when it was compared to the previously reported limit of detection for propranolol. Using the same experimental conditions that were used for the limit of detection, these experiments were extended to plasma spiked with propranolol in order to test detection of this pharmaceutical in biofluids. Concentrations of propranolol were prepared using plasma as the solvent and measured for detection using colloidal surface-enhanced Raman scattering. Detection was determined as <130 ng/mL, within physiological concentrations, previously achieved using separation techniques. The second part of this thesis also involved a combination of experimental and computational methods. Raman optical activity was utilized to investigate secondary structure of amino acids and diamino acid peptides in combination with density functional theory calculations. Amino acids are important biological molecules that have vital functions in the biological system. They have been recognized as neurotransmitters and implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. Raman and Raman optical activity experimental results were compared to determine site-specific acetylation, marker bands for constitutional isomers and identification of functional groups that interact with the solvent. The experimental spectra were then compared to those from the density functional theory calculations. The results indicated that; constitutional isomers cannot be distinguished from the Raman spectra but can be distinguished from the Raman optical activity spectra, site-specific acetylation can be identified from the Raman spectra, however, Raman optical activity provides more structural information in relation to acetylation. When the results were compared to the density functional theory calculations for the diamino acid peptides the results agreed reasonably well, however, agreement was not as good for the monoamino acids because diamino acid peptides support fewer conformations due to the peptide bond whereas monoamino acids can adopt a far greater number of conformations. Combined computational and experimental techniques have developed the ability to detect and characterize biomedical compounds, a significant move in the advancement of Raman spectroscopies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:555527 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Levene, Clare |
| Contributors | Goodacre, Roy. ; Blanch, Ewan |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/advanced-raman-sers-and-roa-studies-of-biomedical-and-pharmaceutical-compounds-in-solution(1c05f618-b1c2-4663-870a-3d51b32dad7b).html |
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