Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

From The Making To The Tuning To The Use Of Chlorins For Biomedical Applications, Junior Gonzales

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chlorins are porphyrins missing a double bond. These pigments are optimal platforms for the development of novel dyes that display drug-like attributes such as photodynamic therapy (PDT) agents. More recently, it was demonstrated that chlorins can serve both as a PDT agent and as a modality for fluorescence or PET imaging. Thus, multifunctional chlorins eliminate the differences that may occur in specificity, uptake, and distribution between separate compounds or constructs for imaging and therapy. The overall goal of this dissertation is to take advantage of the reputed intrinsic attributes of chlorins as a viable tool in biomedical applications. In this …

Formation, Characterization, And Optimization Of Antibody-Gold Nanoparticle Conjugates, Seth L. Filbrun

Theses and Dissertations

Protein modified gold nanoparticle based immunoassays are the basis of many novel detection techniques. There are many groups working on novel immunoassays but there is still much to understand about how many proteins are attached onto each nanoparticle and much to improve on immobilization methods. This thesis work is devoted to improving techniques for the quantification of protein immobilized on the gold nanoparticle and development of a novel approach to immobilize protein independent of pH.

The ability to evaluate antibody immobilization onto gold nanoparticles is critical for assessing coupling chemistry and optimizing the sensitivity of nanoparticle-enabled biosensors. Herein, we developed …

I. Designing Brighter Fluorophores: A Computational And Spectroscopic Approach To Predicting Photophysical Properties Of Hydrazone-Based Dyes Ii. Developing Spectroscopic Methods To Better Understand The Cofactors Of Metalloproteins, Morgan Cousins

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Luminogens are molecules that emit light upon exposure to high-energy light, and fluorophores are one class of luminogens. Applications of fluorophores range from microviscosity sensors to light emitting diodes (LEDs), as well as biosensors, just to name a few. Many of these applications require the fluorophore to be in the aggregate or solid state. Some fluorophores become highly emissive in the aggregate state; these fluorophores are aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens. Currently, very few quantum mechanical mechanisms have been proposed to describe the unique AIE behavior of luminogens.

Boron difluorohydrazone (BODIHY) dyes are a new type of AIE fluorophore. The bright …

Quantifying The Interactions Of Nickel With Marine Dissolved Organic Matter Using Fluorescence, Elissa Dow

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Nickel (Ni) is a versatile metal with an abundance of applications, namely its role in stainless steel, electronics, and batteries, making it a popular choice in industry. Unfortunately, with increasing demand and production comes higher amounts of Ni pollution. Nickel enters ocean waters - either directly or indirectly - and can have profound effects on marine life. Nickel has been established as a toxicant to a variety of aquatic biota, with the divalent cation (Ni²⁺) thought to be the most bioavailable fraction and thus the most toxic. Having a reliable means of quantifying free Ni ion is pertinent …

Synthesis And Fluorescent Properties Of A New Flavonoid Compound, Ashley L. Ingle

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Flavonoids are highly luminescent compounds that are used in diagnosing and treating certain diseases.They are composed of two aromatic rings (ring A and ring B) and a six-membered heterocyclic pyran ring (ring C) that contains a carbonyl and hydroxyl group, which are responsible for unique photophysical characteristics associated with flavonoids. The target flavonoids (compound 1, or 1, and compound 2 or 2) were synthesized, purified and characterized by NMR spectroscopy. The photophysical properties of the flavonoid were investigated in varying solvents by using UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Such properties include Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (ESIPT), Intramolecular Charge …

Fluorescence Polarization Measurements To Probe Alignment Of A Bithiophene Dye In One-Dimensional Channels Of Self-Assembled Phenylethynylene Bis-Urea Macrocycle Crystals, Preecha Kittikhunnatham

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the use of polarized fluorescence microscopy to directly probe guest molecule orientation in bis-urea macrocycle crystals. These macrocycles assemble to afford one-dimensional (1D) microchannels ∼9 Å in diameter that have previously been shown to exhibit normal Fickian diffusion and induce selective reactivity among the confined guest molecules. In the present work, we take advantage of the quasi-1D morphology of fiber-like microcrystals with the extended dimension corresponding to the channel axis to measure excitation and emission polarization values for a bithiophene guest. Guest fluorescence is shown to be polarized along the fiber axis with emission polarization values up …