Chemistry Commons^™

Clinical Factors Associated With Hepatitis C Treatment Selection In A Veterans Affairs Population, Carly Anne Ranson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Background: Hepatitis C virus is currently the most common chronic blood borne pathogen in the United States, with only half of those infected aware of their condition. The cost for treatment is higher with Harvoni® (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir) than Viekira Pak® (ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir and dasabuvir). With finite resources available to treat patients, it is important to understand which clinical factors may influence treatment selection decisions.

Methods: The study is a 12-month medical record review within the Veterans Affairs (VA) system to evaluate significant relationships between selected clinical and sociodemographic factors and HCV treatment selection with either Harvoni® or Viekira Pak®. Clinical and demographic …

Liposome-Coated Magnesium Phosphate Nanoparticle For Delivery Of Cytochrome C Into Lung Cancer Cells A549, Weizhou Yue

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Proteins are large biomolecules that have great therapeutic potential in treating many human diseases. However, chemical/enzymatic degradation, denaturation, and poor penetration into cells are some of the challenges for clinical use of intracellular proteins.

Previously, our group has developed cationic lipid-coated magnesium phosphate nanoparticle (LP MgP NP-CAT) formulations to enhance the intracellular delivery of the negatively charged protein catalase. The goal of the current research is to develop a formulation to deliver cytochrome c (CytC), a positively charged protein into lung cancer cells A549. Specifically, this thesis research prepares and tests liposome-coated magnesium phosphate nanoparticle for delivery of cytochrome c …

Preclinical Evaluation Of Ag10 For Therapeutic Use Against Familial Amyloid Cardiomyopathy And Its Application In Various Other Technologies, Mark Russell Miller

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis is a progressive, fatal disease in which deposition of amyloid derived from either mutant or wild-type TTR causes severe organ damage and dysfunction. TTR cardiomyopathy is an infiltrative, restrictive cardiomyopathy characterized by progressive left and right heart failure. Familial amyloid cardiomyopathy (FAC) is driven by pathogenic point mutations in the TTR gene that destabilize the TTR tetramer, prompting its dissociation into dimers and monomers, with subsequent misfolding, aggregation and deposition of toxic TTR amyloid aggregates in the myocardium. The most prevalent mutation that causes FAC is the V122I variant, carried by 3.4% of African Americans, that increases …

Synthetic Methods For Ester Bond Formation And Conformational Analysis Of Ester-Containing Carbohydrates, Sven Hackbusch

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation encompasses work related to synthetic methods for the formation of ester linkages in organic compounds, as well as the investigation of the conformational influence of the ester functional group on the flexibility of inter-saccharide linkages, specifically, and the solution phase structure of ester-containing carbohydrate derivatives, in general.

Stereoselective reactions are an important part of the field of asymmetric synthesis and an understanding of their underlying mechanistic principles is essential for rational method development. Here, the exploration of a diastereoselective O-acylation reaction on a trans-2-substituted cyclohexanol scaffold is presented, along with possible reasons for the observed reversal of stereoselectivity …

Biomarker Discovery Using Urinary Metabolomics For Noninvasive Early Cancer Detection, Casey Franklin Burton

Doctoral Dissertations

"The development of new screening methods for the early detection of cancer remains one of the foremost challenges facing modern cancer research. The emergence of new analytical technologies and their application to 'omics'-based approaches has provided researchers with powerful new tools for molecular biomarker discovery that may benefit early screening of cancer. This dissertation outlines several key advances made toward the application of urinary metabolomics to cancer biomarker discovery. The term urinary metabolomics here refers to the investigation of small metabolites in urine as potential disease biomarkers. The advantage of using this approach lies in its noninvasive sampling characteristics and …

Rapid Quantification Of Trypsin Inhibitors In Food And Feed Formulations With Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry, Radheshyam Panta

Doctoral Dissertations

"Presence of anti- nutrients deteriorate the nutritional value of animal foods and feed formulations. The important one being trypsin inhibitors. Trypsin inhibitors in food and feed formulations lower the protein supplement and hence the ultimate consequence is the decrease in growth and development of animals. It is therefore, crucial to monitor trypsin inhibitors in animal food and feed formulations. Research work mentioned in this dissertation is based on the development of rapid, more accurate and robust method for determination of trypsin inhibitor in food and feed formulations. The developed method includes extraction of trypsin inhibitor from food and feed formulation …

The Maculoprotective Effect Of A Thiol Antioxidant In Retinal Degeneration Models, Hsiu-Jen Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

"Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of irreversible blindness among adults, age 60 and older, in developed countries. While oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of AMD, clinical studies have shown that dietary antioxidants can delay progression of AMD. Currently, there is no FDA-approved treatment for AMD. Therefore, we hypothesized that N-acetylcysteine amide (NACA), a thiol antioxidant, would protect retinal pigment epithelium and impede the progression of retinal degeneration. The goal of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of NACA in preventing retinal pigment epithelial cell and photoreceptor death in AMD models. To achieve this, we …

Drinking Water Disinfection By-Products Detection, Formation And The Precursors Removal Study, Runmiao Xue

Doctoral Dissertations

"Haloacetic acids (HAAs) and trihalomethanes (THMs) are two groups of commonly found disinfection by-products (DBPs). Iodinated THMs and HAAs were observed after disinfection of water containing high level of iodide and are proved to be more toxic than their corresponding chlorinated and brominated species. In the presented dissertation, a novel rapid and sensitive high performance ion chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPIC-MS/MS) method has been developed for simultaneous analysis of all these HAAs, bromate, bromide, iodide, and iodate, seventeen compounds in total, without any tedious sample preparation. Besides an efficient analytical method for the detection of DBPs, seeking for a green disinfectant …

Advanced Analytical Strategies To Determine Biomedical Parameters For Medical Diagnostics, Drug Delivery, And Therapy, Sisi Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

"Biomedical parameters are critical for diseases prognosis, diagnosis and therapy. Many research groups have dedicated their studies to develop analytical instrumentation and apply analytical methods to determine biomedical parameters that have the potential to help with disease control and increase public health. This dissertation focuses on three major aspects of analytical strategies development and applications: 1) detection of pH changes caused by nanotoxicity (induced by TiO₂ nanoparticles) using newly developed micro-pH sensor, 2) quantification of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) biomarkers by high-performance liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), and 3) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies of porous wall …

Designing High Performance Overall Water Splitting Electrocatalysts From Non-Precious Metal Selenides, Abdurazag T. Swesi

Doctoral Dissertations

“The energy production has been depending mostly on fossil fuel which will be depleted someday in the near future. Aspects such as the loss of energy resources and destruction of the environment have motivated researchers for pursuing transition away from fossil fuels to renewable solar-fuels. Therefore, in order to meet the continuous increasing demand for energy, the hydrogen, with the largest energy density stored in it, can then efficiently be used in fuel cells without concern of contaminants. Water splitting reaction to generate H₂ and O₂ is one promising method of converting solar energy into fuels. The major …

Investigation Of The Effects Of Ionic Interactions In Peptide And Protein Structure, Aimee Lorts

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Proteins and their unique structures are important due to their involvement in every cellular task, but the protein can only function properly when it is in the correct fold. β-sheet peptides and collagen were observed via structural studies. Circular dichroism (CD) determines a protein’s secondary structure. WKWK, a beta-sheet peptide, is known to dissolve in aqueous solutions. However, WKWK was observed to precipitate out of deionized water. To investigate the cause of this precipitation, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) was used to determine the ion content of the water. Elevated sodium ion concentrations were found to disrupt the stabilizing …

Non-Traditional Examination: A Study To Improve Academic And Research Performance Of Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Students#, Bimal K. Banik, Ram Naresh Yadav, Sunena Chandra

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

An investigation of conducting a presentation examination instead of a classical written examination method on academic and research performance of undergraduate chemistry students was performed at the University of Texas-Pan American. The results suggest that chemistry students do much better in the presentation examination compared to the written examination at the advanced organic chemistry course. But, the performances of the students in the lower level courses are mixed. However, students do much better in research work when presentation examination was conducted.

Carbon Dioxide-Mediated Preparation Of Pyrroles In Water Following Paal Knorr Method, Ram Naresh Yadav, Bimal K. Banik

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

Carbon dioxide-mediated new reaction of 2,5-hexanedione and primary amino compounds in water-THF produced N-substituted pyrroles in excellent yield. This method for the preparation of pyrroles is novel, simple, and efficient.

Microwave-Induced Paal-Knorr Reaction With Ammonium Chloride: Synthesis Of Pyrroles, Debasish Bandyopadhyay, Bimal K. Banik

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

An expeditious microwave-induced synthesis of pyrroles using commercially available 2,5- dimethoxytetrahydrofuran and primary amines in the presence of ammonium chloride has been achieved in excellent yield.

Carbon Dioxide-Mediated Synthesis Of Pyrroles In Water, Ram Naresh Yadav, Bimal K. Banik

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

A novel carbon dioxide-mediated synthesis of diverse pyrroles using 2,5- dimethoxytetrahydrofuran and primary amines has been achieved in excellent yield. Despite the importance of pyrroles, no study has been performed using carbon dioxide as a reagent to accomplish Paal-Knorr reaction.

Microwave-Induced Bismuth Triiodide-Catalyzed Facile Synthesis Of Octahydroxanthenes, Ashlee Chavez, Jessica Cruz, Alexdra Munoz, Ram Naresh Yadav, Debasish Bandyopadhyay, Bimal K. Banik

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

Microwave-induced reaction of 1,3-cyclohexanedione with numerous aldehydes using bismuth iodide is performed successfully toward the synthesis of important octahydroxanthenes. A most probable mechanism is suggested to explain the formation of products.

Ammonium Chloride-Induced Synthesis Of Pyrroles Via Paalknorr Reaction, Debasish Bandyopadhyay, Bimal K. Banik

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

Reaction of commercially available 2,5-hexanedione and primary amino compounds in the presence of ammonium chloride produced N-substituted pyrroles in excellent yield. In contrast to other available methods, this current procedure for the preparation of pyrroles is exceedingly simple, efficient, and eco-friendly and therefore, may find numerous applications in this field.

Dihydropyridines As Calcium Channel Blockers: An Overview, Thelma Salazar, Andres Gonzalez, Debasish Bandyopadhyay

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

Cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States. It is estimated that 1 in every 3 American adults suffer from high blood pressure. Hypertension, a precursor to most cardiovascular diseases, continues to grow at an alarming rate and is seldom managed carefully. Attempts have been made to manage hypertension and reduce the morbidity and mortality of the cardiovascular organ through methods including diets, increased amount of exercise, and medications. Many commercial drugs have been derived from dihydropyridine due to its antihypertensive property. Dihydropyridine derivatives work by acting as calcium channel blockers blocking the intake …

Identification And Characterization Of A Chemical Compound That Inhibits Methionyl-Trna Synthetase From Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Sara Robles, Yanmei Hu, Tahyra Resto, Frank Dean, James M. Bullard

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen problematic in causing nosocomial infections and is highly susceptible to development of resistance to multiple antibiotics. The gene encoding methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MetRS) from P. aeruginosa was cloned and the resulting protein characterized.

Methods: MetRS was kinetically evaluated and the KM for its three substrates, methionine, ATP and tRNAMet were determined to be 35, 515, and 29 μM, respectively. P. aeruginosaMetRS was used to screen two chemical compound libraries containing 1690 individual compounds.

Results: A natural product compound (BM01C11) was identified that inhibited the aminoacylation function. The compound inhibited P. aeruginosa MetRS with an …

Use Of The Novel Derivatizing Agent 1,8-Diaminonapthalene With The Cip10 Sampler To Measure 4,4'-Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate Atmospheres, Silvia Puscasu, Simon Aubin, Philippe Sarazin, Lucile Richard, Mark Spence, Sébastien Gagné

Études primaires

DAN is a novel derivatizing agent for isocyanate sampling which targets total reactive isocyanate group (TRIG). Field evaluations have been conducted for 4,4’-Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) sampling using DAN as the derivatizing agent in a CIP10. The perimidone formed, selective of TRIG, was analyzed in laboratory by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Workplaces using MDI-based polyurethane spray foam and MDI wood product binder were studied. Each study compared the data obtained between the CIP10/DAN, the CIP10/MP, and a reference method. As a first evaluation, the CIP10/DAN sampled simulated MDI spray foam atmosphere in parallel with impingers (reference method) …

Regioselective Electrolytic 5,8-Difluorination Of Quinolines, Sean P. Spurlin

Honors College Theses

Over the past decade, synthesis of organofluorine compounds has become a mainstream research focus. The introduction of fluorine uniquely affects the biological properties of organic molecules such as making them more bioavailable, lipophilic and metabolically stable, and possibly increase the strength of a compound’s interactions with a target protein. Approximately 30% of agrochemicals and 20% of pharmaceuticals contain fluorine, including commonly prescribed drugs such as Lipitor, Lexapro and Prozac. This work describes the development of a new methodology to incorporate fluorine into organic compounds. Our new method involves a regioselective electrochemical 5,8-difluorination of quinolines using HF:pyridine as both the reagent …

Biofunctionalized Capillary Flow Channel Platform Integrated With 3d Nanostructured Matrix To Capture Circulating Tumor Cells, Shashwat Banerjee, Ganesh Khutale, Vrushali Khobragade, Narendra Kale, Milind Pore, Govind Chate, Archana Jalota-Badhwar, Manoj Dongare, Jayant Khandare

Articles

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from peripheral blood account genetic information for cancer diagnosis and overall disease monitoring. Analysis of “liquid biopsy” holds immense promise as it may lead to new approaches for cancer treatment. The study reports effective and continuous flow microchannel system for isolating CTCs using transferrin conjugated 3D matrix synthesized by crosslinking polyethylene glycol-Fe3O4 nanostructures for rapid and efficient capturing of CTCs. The platform provides option of using multiple microchannel units in series that can influence higher cell-capture efficiency due to increasing cell-substrate contact frequency. CTCs are captured with high efficiency even at low concentration of target cells …

Bioavailable Iron In Equatorial Pacific Ocean Aerosol Samples, Hsiang T Teng

All Master's Theses

Oceanic iron (Fe) fertilization experiments performed in remote regions have established that Fe additions draw carbon into the ocean, at least over the months-long time frame of the experiments. However, the mechanisms that control Fe speciation in atmospheric aerosol particles before and after deposition into the surface ocean remain largely unknown. This is in part due to the analytical challenge of quantifying Fe at environmentally significant sub-nano molar levels. The flow injection analysis method combined with the luminol chemiluminescence analytical system allows us to explore the near-real time determination of pico-molar levels of both Fe(II) and H₂O_{2 …}

Gold And Alloy Nanomolecules: Synthesis, Ligand Induced Core Conversion, Characterization, And Atomic Structure, Shevanuja Theivendran

Honors Theses

Gold nanoparticles have wide range of applications in the field of sensing, imaging, cancer therapy, and other biomedical applications. It is desired to have monodisperse and atomically precise gold nanoparticles to have better control and effective utilization of that nanoparticle. The nanoparticles that are less than 2 nm in size with precise number of atoms and ligands (± 0 atoms) which exhibit unique physical, chemical and optoelectronic properties are called as gold nanomolecules. This thesis presents the synthetic methodology and isolation of various monodisperse atomically precise nanomolecules and their characterization. UV-vis spectroscopy, Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (ESI-MS), Matrix Assisted Laser …

Synthesis Of Cross-Conjugated Dibenzochrysene-Based Photosensitizers For Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Bailey Nicole Flamm

Honors Theses

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) represent a promising alternative method of energy generation. Absorbance of light across the visible spectrum and into the near-infrared (NIR) region is crucial to increasing the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of DSC devices. Dye absorbance can be red-shifted by either increasing the conjugation path of the photosensitizer or by increasing the strength of electron donors and acceptors found in molecules. By using a polycyclic aromatic Ï€-bridge in a dye, lower energy wavelengths of light can be absorbed. Dibenzochrysene is a six-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with substitutable positions that allow for a double-donor, double-acceptor (DD-Ï€-AA) structure, …

Polymer Grafted Nanoparticles For Designed Interfaces In Polymer Nanocomposites, Mohammad Mohammadkhani

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the design, synthesis, and characterization of polymer nanocomposite interfaces and the property enhancement from this interface design. Through the use of reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization for the grafting of polymer chains to silica nanoparticles, the surface of silica nanoparticles can be manipulated to tune the properties of nanocomposites by controlling the interface between the particles and the polymer matrix.

In the first part of this work, compatibility of 15 nm silica nanoparticles grafted with different alkyl methacrylates with linear low density polyethylene was investigated. SI-RAFT polymerization of hexyl, lauryl, and stearyl methacrylate on silica …

Disinfection By-Products: Formation In Pool Water And The Role Of Iodinated Medical Imaging Compounds As A Potential Precursor In The Formation Of Iodo-Dbps, Christina Marie Joseph

Theses and Dissertations

Disinfection by-products (DBPs) are the unintended consequence of using chemical disinfectants to kill pathogens in water. 1-11 They are formed from the reaction between disinfectants and natural organic matter (NOM), anthropogenic contaminants, and bromide/iodide present in the raw source water. DBPs are cause for concern because studies have found them to be toxic.11-16 This research focuses on identifying and studying the formation of DBPs. Specifically, the presence of DBPs in chlorinated pool water and tap water from Barcelona, Spain was studied to better understand which DBPs are formed in the pool as compared to those that enter the pool from …

Structural And Functional Studies Of Proteins From The Agricultural Pests Tetranychus Urticae And Aspergillus Fumigatus, Caleb Schlachter

Theses and Dissertations

Agricultural pests are a worldwide problem and cause billions of dollars in crop loss. In the United States alone, an estimated $40 billion USD is lost per year due to insecticide resistance [1]. Studied here are proteins (potentially new pesticide targets) from the agricultural pests Tetranychus urticae and Aspergillus fumigatus. T. urticae, or twospotted spidermite, is a polyphagous pest, and three proteins from this pest, a cyanase, a glutathione S-transferase and an intradiol ring-cleavage dioxygenase are described [2]. Cyanase is involved in the conversion of bicarbonate and cyanate, a toxic self-defense metabolite produced by plants, into ammonia and carbon dioxide. …

Metal-Organic Frameworks: A Versatile Platform For Light Harvesting And Energy Transfer, Derek E. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The global energy demand is undoubtedly rising at an alarming rate, and as a result, humanity faces the problem of finding alternative energy supplies. Approximately 80 percent of the world’s energy currently comes from fossil fuels, and only a small fraction, 10 percent, from renewable energy sources. The study of energy transfer (ET) processes is a rapidly developing area of interest due to the necessity for more efficient photovoltaic devices, which are crucial to meet the growing energy demand. A promising approach to further advance organic photovoltaics is to precisely arrange many lightharvesting chromophores (e.g., porphyrin derivatives), attainable through a …

Mild Hydrofunctionalizations Of Olefins Using More Cost-Effective Metal Catalysts, Alexander James Villani-Gale

Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation is the study of alkene hydroaylation reactions. In the first chapter, a review of the relevant literature concerning zinc- and iron-catalyzed hydroarylation of unsaturated bonds is presented. In chapter two, the development of a zinc-catalyzed hydroarylation of alkenes is presented, which is quickly followed by a detailed investigation into the probable mechanism. Chapter three discusses the development of an iron/silver-catalyzed arene prenylation reaction, followed by the development of an iron/zinc-catalyzed arene prenylation reaction. The final section of chapter three discusses the adaptation of the iron/zinc-catalyzed arene prenylation into an undergraduate organic teaching laboratory.