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This project was focused on generating ultra thin stimuli responsive membranes with an embedded transmembrane protein to act as the pore. The membranes were formed by crosslinking of transmembrane protein polymer conjugates. The conjugates were self assembled on air water interface and the polymer chains crosslinked using a UV crosslinkable comonomer to engender the membrane. The protein used for the studies reported herein was one of the largest transmembrane channel proteins, ferric hydroxamate uptake protein component A (FhuA), found in the outer membrane of Escherichia coli (E. coli). The wild type protein and three genetic variants of FhuA were provided by the group of Prof. Schwaneberg in Aachen. The well known thermo responsive poly(N isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) and the pH and thermo responsive polymer poly((2-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) were conjugated to FhuA and the genetic variants via controlled radical polymerization (CRP) using grafting from technique. These polymers were chosen because they would provide stimuli handles in the resulting membranes. The reported polymerization was the first ever attempt to attach polymer chains onto a membrane protein using site specific modification.
The conjugate synthesis was carried out in two steps – a) FhuA was first converted into a macroinitiator by covalently linking a water soluble functional CRP initiator to the lysine residues. b) Copper mediated CRP was then carried out in pure buffer conditions with and without sacrificial initiator to generate the conjugates.
The challenge was carrying out the modifications on FhuA without denaturing it. FhuA, being a transmembrane protein, requires amphiphilic species to stabilize its highly hydrophobic transmembrane region. For the experiments reported in this thesis, the stabilizing agent was 2 methyl 2,4-pentanediol (MPD). Since the buffer containing MPD cannot be considered a purely aqueous system, and also because MPD might interfere with the polymerization procedure, the reaction conditions were first optimized using a model globular protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA). The optimum conditions were then used for the generation of conjugates with FhuA.
The generated conjugates were shown to be highly interfacially active and this property was exploited to let them self assemble onto polar apolar interfaces. The emulsions stabilized by particles or conjugates are referred to as Pickering emulsions. Crosslinking conjugates with a UV crosslinkable co monomer afforded nano thin micro compartments. Interfacial self assembly at the air water interface and subsequent UV crosslinking also yielded nano thin, stimuli responsive membranes which were shown to be mechanically robust. Initial characterization of the flux and permeation of water through these membranes is also reported herein. The generated nano thin membranes with PNIPAAm showed reduced permeation at elevated temperatures owing to the resistance by the hydrophobic and thus water-impermeable polymer matrix, hence confirming the stimulus responsivity.
Additionally, as a part of collaborative work with Dr. Changzhu Wu, TU Dresden, conjugates of three enzymes with current/potential industrial relevance (candida antarctica lipase B, benzaldehyde lyase and glucose oxidase) with stimuli responsive polymers were synthesized. This work aims at carrying out cascade reactions in the Pickering emulsions generated by self assembled enzyme polymer conjugate.
The high interfacial activity of protein-polymer conjugates has inspired their use as stabilizers for Pickering emulsions, resulting in many interesting applications such as synthesis of templated micro-compartments and protocells or vehicles for drug and gene delivery. In this study we report, for the first time, the stabilization of Pickering emulsions with conjugates of a genetically modified transmembrane protein, ferric hydroxamate uptake protein component A (FhuA). The lysine residues of FhuA with open pore (FhuA Delta CVFtev) were modified to attach an initiator and consequently controlled radical polymerization (CRP) carried out via the grafting-from technique. The resulting conjugates of FhuA Delta CVFtev with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) and poly((2-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA), the so-called building blocks based on transmembrane proteins (BBTP), have been shown to engender larger structures. The properties such as pH-responsivity, temperature-responsivity and interfacial activity of the BBTP were analyzed using UV-Vis spectrophotometry and pendant drop tensiometry. The BBTP were then utilized for the synthesis of highly stable Pickering emulsions, which could remain non-coalesced for well over a month. A new UV-crosslinkable monomer was synthesized and copolymerized with NIPAAm from the protein. The emulsion droplets, upon crosslinking of polymer chains, yielded micro-compartments. Fluorescence microscopy proved that these compartments are of micrometer scale, while cryo-scanning electron microscopy and scanning force microscopy analysis yielded a thickness in the range of 11.1 +/- 0.6 to 38.0 +/- 18.2 nm for the stabilizing layer of the conjugates. Such micro-compartments would prove to be beneficial in drug delivery applications, owing to the possibility of using the channel of the transmembrane protein as a gate and the smart polymer chains as trigger switches to tune the behavior of the capsules.
Porous polyelectrolyte membranes stable in a highly ionic environment are obtained by covalent crosslinking of an imidazolium-based poly(ionic liquid). The crosslinking reaction involves the UV light-induced thiol-ene (click) chemistry, and the phase separation, occurring during the crosslinking step, generates a fully interconnected porous structure in the membrane. The porosity is on the order of the micrometer scale and the membrane shows a gradient of pore size across the membrane cross-section. The membrane can separate polystyrene latex particles of different size and undergoes actuation in contact with acetone due to the asymmetric porous structure.
A new isoflavone, 8-prenylmilldrone (1), and four new rotenoids, oblarotenoids A-D (2-5), along with nine known compounds (6-14), were isolated from the CH2Cl2/CH3OH (1:1) extract of the leaves of Millettia oblata ssp. teitensis by chromatographic separation. The purified compounds were identified by NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analyses, whereas the absolute configurations of the rotenoids were established on the basis of chiroptical data and in some cases by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Maximaisoflavone J (11) and oblarotenoid C (4) showed weak activity against the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 with IC50 values of 33.3 and 93.8 mu M, respectively.
In this work, a sensor system based on thermoresponsive materials is developed by utilizing a modular approach. By synthesizing three different key monomers containing either a carboxyl, alkene or alkyne end group connected with a spacer to the methacrylic polymerizable unit, a flexible copolymerization strategy has been set up with oligo ethylene glycol methacrylates. This allows to tune the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the polymers in aqueous media. The molar masses are variable thanks to the excurse taken in polymerization in ionic liquids thus stretching molar masses from 25 to over 1000 kDa. The systems that were shown shown to be effective in aqueous solution could be immobilized on surfaces by copolymerizing photo crosslinkable units. The immobilized systems were formulated to give different layer thicknesses, swelling ratios and mesh sizes depending on the demand of the coupling reaction.
The coupling of detector units or model molecules is approached via reactions of the click chemistry pool, and the reactions are evaluated on their efficiency under those aspects, too. These coupling reactions are followed by surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (SPR) to judge efficiency. With these tools at hand, Salmonella saccharides could be selectively detected by SPR. Influenza viruses were detected in solution by turbidimetry in solution as well as by a copolymerized solvatochromic dye to track binding via the changes of the polymers’ fluorescence by said binding event. This effect could also be achieved by utilizing the thermoresponsive behavior. Another demonstrator consists of the detection system bound to a quartz surface, thus allowing the virus detection on a solid carrier.
The experiments show the great potential of combining the concepts of thermoresponsive materials and click chemistry to develop technically simple sensors for large biomolecules and viruses.
Nowadays, the need to protect the environment becomes more urgent than ever. In the field of chemistry, this translates to practices such as waste prevention, use of renewable feedstocks, and catalysis; concepts based on the principles of green chemistry. Polymers are an important product in the chemical industry and are also in the focus of these changes. In this thesis, more sustainable approaches to make two classes of polymers, polypeptoids and polyesters, are described.
Polypeptoids or poly(alkyl-N-glycines) are isomers of polypeptides and are biocompatible, as well as degradable under biologically relevant conditions. In addition to that, they can have interesting properties such as lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior. They are usually synthesized by the ring opening polymerization (ROP) of N-carboxy anhydrides (NCAs), which are produced with the use of toxic compounds (e.g. phosgene) and which are highly sensitive to humidity. In order to avoid the direct synthesis and isolation of the NCAs, N-phenoxycarbonyl-protected N-substituted glycines are prepared, which can yield the NCAs in situ. The conditions for the NCA synthesis and its direct polymerization are investigated and optimized for the simplest N-substituted glycine, sarcosine. The use of a tertiary amine in less than stoichiometric amounts compared to the N-phenoxycarbonyl--sarcosine seems to accelerate drastically the NCA formation and does not affect the efficiency of the polymerization. In fact, well defined polysarcosines that comply to the monomer to initiator ratio can be produced by this method. This approach was also applied to other N-substituted glycines.
Dihydroxyacetone is a sustainable diol produced from glycerol, and has already been used for the synthesis of polycarbonates. Here, it was used as a comonomer for the synthesis of polyesters. However, the polymerization of dihydroxyacetone presented difficulties, probably due to the insolubility of the macromolecular chains. To circumvent the problem, the dimethyl acetal protected dihydroxyacetone was polymerized with terephthaloyl chloride to yield a soluble polymer. When the carbonyl was recovered after deprotection, the product was insoluble in all solvents, showing that the carbonyl in the main chain hinders the dissolution of the polymers. The solubility issue can be avoided, when a 1:1 mixture of dihydroxyacetone/ ethylene glycol is used to yield a soluble copolyester.
Near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) simulations based on the conventional configuration interaction singles (CIS) lead to excitation energies, which are systematically blue shifted. Using a (restricted) open shell core hole reference instead of the Hartree Fock (HF) ground state orbitals improves (Decleva et al., Chem. Phys., 1992, 168, 51) excitation energies and the shape of the spectra significantly. In this work, we systematically vary the underlying SCF approaches, that is, based on HF or density functional theory, to identify best suited reference orbitals using a series of small test molecules. We compare the energies of the K edges and NEXAFS spectra to experimental data. The main improvement compared to conventional CIS, that is, using HF ground state orbitals, is due to the electrostatic influence of the core hole. Different SCF approaches, density functionals, or the use of fractional occupations lead only to comparably small changes. Furthermore, to account for bigger systems, we adapt the core-valence separation for our approach. We demonstrate that the good quality of the spectrum is not influenced by this approximation when used together with the non-separated ground state wave function. Simultaneously, the computational demands are reduced remarkably. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
In dieser Arbeit werden drei Themen im Zusammenhang mit den spektroskopischen Eigenschaften von Cumarin- (Cou) und DBD-Farbstoffen ([1,3]Dioxolo[4,5-f][1,3]benzodioxol) behandelt. Der erste Teil zeigt die grundlegende spektroskopische Charakterisierung von 7-Aminocumarinen und ihre potentielle Anwendung als Fluoreszenzsonde für Fluoreszenzimmunassays. Im zweiten Teil werden mit die photophysikalischen Eigenschaften der Cumarine genutzt um Cou- und DBD-funktionalisierte Oligo-Spiro-Ketal-Stäbe (OSTK) und ihre Eigenschaften als Membransonden zu untersuchen. Der letzte Teil beschäftigt sich mit der Synthese und der Charakterisierung von Cou- und DBD-funktionalisierten Polyprolinen als Referenzsysteme für schwefelfunktionalisierte OSTK-Stäbe und ihrer Kopplung an Goldnanopartikel.
Immunochemische Analysemethoden sind in der klinischen Diagnostik sehr erfolgreich und werden heute auch für die Nahrungsmittelkontrolle und Überwachung von Umweltfragen mit einbezogen. Dadurch sind sie von großem Interesse für weitere Forschungen. Unter den verschiedenen Immunassays zeichnen sich lumineszenzbasierte Formate durch ihre herausragende Sensitivität aus, die dieses Format für zukünftige Anwendungen besonders attraktiv macht. Die Notwendigkeit von Multiparameterdetektionsmöglichkeiten erfordert einen Werkzeugkasten mit Farbstoffen, um die biochemische Reaktion in ein optisch detektierbares Signal umzuwandeln. Hier wird bei einem Multiparameteransatz jeder Analyt durch einen anderen Farbstoff mit einer einzigartigen Emissionsfarbe, die den blauen bis roten Spektralbereich abdecken, oder eine einzigartige Abklingzeit detektiert. Im Falle eines kompetitiven Immunassayformats wäre für jeden der verschiedenen Farbstoffe ein einzelner Antikörper erforderlich. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein leicht modifizierter Ansatz unter Verwendung einer Cumarineinheit, gegen die hochspezifische monoklonale Antikörper (mAb) erzeugt wurden, als grundlegendes Antigen präsentiert. Durch eine Modifikation der Stammcumarineinheit an einer Position des Moleküls, die für die Erkennung durch den Antikörper nicht relevant ist, kann auf den vollen Spektralbereich von blau bis tiefrot zugegriffen werden. In dieser Arbeit wird die photophysikalische Charakterisierung der verschiedenen Cumarinderivate und ihrer entsprechenden Immunkomplexe mit zwei verschiedenen, aber dennoch hochspezifischen, Antikörpern präsentiert. Die Cumarinfarbstoffe und ihre Immunkomplexe wurden durch stationäre und zeitaufgelöste Absorptions- sowie Fluoreszenzemissionsspektroskopie charakterisiert. Darüber hinaus wurden Fluoreszenzdepolarisationsmessungen durchgeführt, um die Daten zu vervollständigen, die die verschiedenen Bindungsmodi der beiden Antikörper betonten. Im Gegensatz zu häufig eingesetzten Nachweissystemen wurde eine massive Fluoreszenzverstärkung bei der Bildung des Antikörper-Farbstoffkomplexes bis zu einem Faktor von 50 gefunden. Wegen der leichten Emissionsfarbenänderung durch das Anpassen der Cumarinsubstitution in der für die Antigenbindung nicht relevanten Position des Elternmoleküls, ist eine Farbstoff-Toolbox vorhanden, die bei der Konstruktion von kompetitiven Multiparameterfluoreszenzverstärkungsimmunassays verwendet werden kann.
Oligo-Spiro-Thio-Ketal-Stäbe werden aufgrund ihres hydrophoben Rückgrats leicht in Doppellipidschichten eingebaut und deshalb als optische Membransonde verwendet. Wegen ihres geringen Durchmessers wird nur eine minimale Störung der Doppellipidschicht verursacht. Durch die Markierung mit Fluoreszenzfarbstoffen sind neuartige Förster-Resonanz-Energietransfersonden mit hoch definierten relativen Orientierungen der Übergangsdipolmomente der Donor- und Akzeptorfarbstoffe zugänglich und macht die Klasse der OSTK-Sonden zu einem leistungsstarken, flexiblen Werkzeugkasten für optische Biosensoranwendungen. Mit Hilfe von stationären und zeitaufgelösten Fluoreszenzexperimenten wurde der Einbau von Cumarin- und DBD markierten OSTK-Stäben in großen unilamellaren Vesikeln untersucht und die Ergebnisse durch Fluoreszenzdepolarisationsmessungen untermauert.
Der letzte Teil dieser Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Synthese und Charakterisierung von Cou- und DBD-funktionalisierten Polyprolinen und ihrer Kopplung an Goldnanopartikel. Die farbstoffmarkierten Polyproline konnten erfolgreich hergestellt werden. Es zeigten sich deutlich Einflüsse auf die spektroskopischen Eigenschaften der Farbstoffe durch die Bindung an die Polyprolinhelix. Die Kopplung an die 5 nm großen AuNP konnte erfolgreich durchgeführt werden. Die Erfahrungen, die durch die Kopplung der Polyproline an die AuNP, gewonnen wurde, ist die Basis für eine Einzelmolekül-AFM-FRET-Nanoskopie mit OSTK-Stäben.