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Electroactive Conjugated Polymers as Charge-Transport Materials for Optoelectronic Thin-Film Devices
(2005)
In this work the electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical properties of a series of pi-conjugated organic polymers were studied. The polymers were deposited on platinum electrodes or ITO-coated glass substrates by potentiodynamic electro-polymerisation of the corresponding monomeric precursor molecules. The electro-chemical and photophysical properties of the triarylborane monomers were studied in detail in order to estimate possible influences on the behaviour of the corresponding polymer. The first part of this work aimed at the synthesis and investigation of conjugated donor–acceptor polymers which combine the prerequisites of an OLED within one material: the transport of positive and negative charges and the formation of emissive excited states. With the carbazole-substituted oxadiazoles 1–3 it was shown that on the one hand the carbazole functionality is suitable for enabling the electrochemical polymerisation of the monomers and on the other hand it facilitates reversible p-doping of the resultant polymers. Although n-doping of poly-1–poly-3 is possible due to the electron-deficient oxadiazole rings, it causes the continuous degradation of these electron-acceptor units. Interestingly, this process does not influence the capability of p-doping of the polymers. With respect to its electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical properties the behaviour of the borane polymer poly-4 is absolutely identical with that of the oxadiazole polymers. Moreover, the optical excitation of poly-4 in the solid state leads to the emission of blue-green light which suggests that this polymer might also possess electroluminescent properties. AFM-measurements of poly-4 films on ITO-coated glass substrates revealed, that the film thickness can be controlled to a certain extent by the number of polymerisation redox cycles. It was shown from the electrochemical and photophysical properties of the triarylboranes 4–6 that the pi–pi-interaction between boron and nitrogen atoms is comparably weak in these molecules. This leads to an unexpected ground-state polarisation with a partially positive boron atom and a partially negative nitrogen atom. Moreover, it was found that TAB 4 possesses a lower symmetry than D3 in solution and that excitation energy can be transferred amongst the three subchromophores of 4. By titration experiments it was also demonstrated that TAB 4 can reversibly bind fluoride ions and that the binding event significantly influences the optical absorption characteristics of the chromophore. It can be assumed, that the above mentioned properties, which have a profound influence on the photophysical behaviour of these triarylborane chromophores, also determine the behaviour of the corresponding polymer in a solid state environment. The aim of the second part of this work was the investigation of purely n-conducting materials based on electron-deficient borane and viologen polymers. The corresponding precursor molecules should be polymerised on platinum electrodes by reductive electropolymerisation. However, a reductive polymerisation was not possible for the borane monomer 19 which is thought to be due to a strong localisation of the unpaired electron on the central boron atom of the radical anion. An electropolymerisation of the cyano-substituted bispyridinio-compound 17 failed because of the poor quality of CN– as a leaving group. Thus, a synthesis of the analogous isomer 18 was developed, in which the cyano-substituents were exchanged by the better leaving group Cl–. The viologen polymer poly-18, which can be regarded as an electron-deficient iso-electronic analogue of poly(para-phenylene), was successfully deposited on a platinum electrode by reductive electropolymerisation of 18. Poly-18 can be reversibly n-doped at comparably low potentials; however, at higher potentials the polymer is overcharged and destroyed irreversibly. As the synthetic strategy for 18 allows the variation of both spacer unit and leaving group in the last two steps of the reaction sequence, a series of analogous compounds can be easily synthesised using this route.
In this study pore forming proteins of the gram-negative bacteria B. burgdorferi, B. duttonii and E.coli were investigated. Therefore the study is subdivided into three parts. In the first part outer membrane preparation of three relapsing fever Borrelia were investigated. In the second part the putative TolC homologue BB0124 of B. burgdorferi, the Lyme borreliosis agent, was studied. In the last part the influence of point mutants within the greasy slide of the maltose specific porin (LamB) of E. coli were shown. In the first part of this study outer membrane preparations of three Borrelia relapsing fever strains have been studied for pore-forming activity in the black lipid bilayer assay. Histograms of conductance fluctuations were obtained from single-channel experiments with outer membrane preparations of B. hermsii, B. recurentis and B. duttonii. All strains had a different conductance fluctuation pattern with a broad range of single-channel conductance values varying from 0.5 nS – 11 nS. Common for all three strains was a high pore-forming activity at around 0.5 nS. Furthermore the proteins of the outer membrane of B. duttonii were separated by chromatographic methods. Some eluate fractions contained a channel-forming protein, which was forming stable channels with a single-channel conductance of 80 pS in 1 M KCl. Characterization of this channel showed that it is slightly anionic selective and voltage independent. The small single-channel conductance suggests that it is a specific pore. However, a substrate specificity could not be determined. In the second part, for the B. burgdorferi HB19 and p66 knock out strain HB19/K02, their outer membrane preparations were characterized in the black lipid bilayer assay. Comparing the histograms of single-channel conductions fluctuations of both strains showed no single-channel activity at 11.5 nS for the p66 knock out strain. This verifies earlier studies that P66 is a pore-forming protein in B. burgdorferi. Furthermore, one fraction obtained by anion exchange chromatography of the p66 knock out outer membrane protein preparation showed a uniform channel-forming activity with a single channel conductance of 300 pS. The electrophysically characterization of the 300 pS channel showed that it is not ionselective or voltage dependent. By mass spectrometry using peptide mass finger prints, BB0142 could be identified as the sole channel forming candidate in the active fraction. A BLAST search and a conserved domain search showed that BB0142 is a putative TolC homologue in B. burgdorferi. Furthermore the location of the bb0142 gene within the chromosome is in an operon encoding a multidrug efflux pump. In this study the expression of an outer membrane component of a putative drug efflux system of B. burgdorferi was shown for the first time. In the third part functional studies of the maltooligosaccharide-specific LamB channel were performed. The 3D-structure of LamB suggests that a number of aromatic residues (Y6, Y41, W74, F229, W358 and W420) within the channel lumen is involved in carbohydrate and ion transport. All aromatic residues were replaced by alanine (A) scanning mutagenesis. Furthermore, LamB mutants were created in which one, two, three, four and five aromatic residues were replaced to study their effects on ion and maltopentaose transport through LamB. The purified mutant proteins were reconstituted into lipid bilayer membranes and the single-channel conductance was studied. The results suggest that all aromatic residues provide some steric hindrance for ion transport through LamB. Highest impact is provided by Y6 and Y41, which are localized opposite to Y118, which forms the central constriction of the LamB channel. Stability constants for binding of maltopentaose to the mutant channels were measured using titration experiments with the carbohydrate. The mutation of one or several aromatic amino acids led to a substantial decrease of the stability constant of binding. The highest effect was observed when all aromatic amino acids were replaced by alanine because no binding of maltopentaose could be detected in this case. However, binding was again possible when Y118 was replaced by tryptophane (W). The carbohydrate-induced block of the channel function could also be used for the study of current noise through the different mutant LamB-channels. The analysis of the power density spectra of some of the mutants allowed the evaluation of the on- and off-rate constants (k1 and k-1) of carbohydrate binding to the binding-site inside the channels. The results suggest that both on- and off-rate constants were affected by the mutations. For most mutants k1 decreased and k-1 increased.
The analysis of real data by means of statistical methods with the aid of a software package common in industry and administration usually is not an integral part of mathematics studies, but it will certainly be part of a future professional work. The present book links up elements from time series analysis with a selection of statistical procedures used in general practice including the statistical software package SAS Statistical Analysis System). Consequently this book addresses students of statistics as well as students of other branches such as economics, demography and engineering, where lectures on statistics belong to their academic training. But it is also intended for the practician who, beyond the use of statistical tools, is interested in their mathematical background. Numerous problems illustrate the applicability of the presented statistical procedures, where SAS gives the solutions. The programs used are explicitly listed and explained. No previous experience is expected neither in SAS nor in a special computer system so that a short training period is guaranteed. This book is meant for a two semester course (lecture, seminar or practical training) where the first two chapters can be dealt with in the first semester. They provide the principal components of the analysis of a time series in the time domain. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 deal with its analysis in the frequency domain and can be worked through in the second term. In order to understand the mathematical background some terms are useful such as convergence in distribution, stochastic convergence, maximum likelihood estimator as well as a basic knowledge of the test theory, so that work on the book can start after an introductory lecture on stochastics. Each chapter includes exercises. An exhaustive treatment is recommended. This book is consecutively subdivided in a statistical part and an SAS-specific part. For better clearness the SAS-specific part, including the diagrams generated with SAS, always starts with a computer symbol, representing the beginning of a session at the computer, and ends with a printer symbol for the end of this session. This book is an open source project under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Insights into the evolution of protein domains give rise to improvements of function prediction
(2005)
The growing number of uncharacterised sequences in public databases has turned the prediction of protein function into a challenging research field. Traditional annotation methods are often error-prone due to the small subset of proteins with experimentally verified function. Goal of this thesis was to analyse the function and evolution of protein domains in order to understand molecular processes in the cell. The focus was on signalling domains of little understood function, as well as on functional sites of protein domains in general. Glucosaminidases (GlcNAcases) represent key enzymes in signal transduction pathways. Together with glucosamine transferases, they serve as molecular switches, similar to kinases and phosphatases. Little was known about the molecular function and structure of the GlcNAcases. In this thesis, the GlcNAcases were identified as remote homologues of N-acetyltransferases. By comparing the homologous sequences, I was able to predict functional sites of the GlcNAcase family and to identify the GlcNAcases as the first family member of the acetyltransferase superfamily with a distinct catalytic mechanism, which is not involved in the transfer of acetyl groups. In a similar approach, the sensor domain of a plant hormone receptor was studied. I was able to predict putative ligand-binding sites by comparing evolutionary constraints in functionally diverged subfamilies. Most of the putative ligand-binding sites have been experimentally confirmed in the meantime. Due to the importance of enzymes involved in cellular signalling, it seems impossible to find substitutions of catalytic amino acids that turn them catalytically inactive. Nevertheless, by scanning catalytic positions of the protein tyrosine phosphatase families, I found many inactive domains among single domain and tandem domain phosphatases in metazoan proteomes. In addition, I found that inactive phosphatases are conserved throughout evolution, which led to the question about the function of these catalytically inactive phosphatase domains. An analysis of evolutionary site rates of amino acid substitutions revealed a cluster of conserved residues in the apparently redundant domain of tandem phosphatases. This putative regulatory center might be responsible for the experimentally verified dimerization of the active and inactive domain in order to control the catalytic activity of the active phosphatase domain. Moreover, I detected a subgroup of inactive phosphatases, which presumably functions in substrate recognition, based on different evolutionary site rates within the phosphatase family. The characterization of these new regulatory modules in the phosphatase family raised the question whether inactivation of enzymes is a more general evolutionary mechanism to enlarge signalling pathways and whether inactive domains are also found in other enzyme families. A large-scale analysis of substitutions at catalytic positions of enzymatic domains was performed in this work. I identified many domains with inactivating substitutions in various enzyme families. Signalling domains harbour a particular high occurrence of catalytically inactive domains indicating that these domains have evolved to modulate existing regulatory pathways. Furthermore, it was shown that inactivation of enzymes by single substitutions happened multiple times independently in evolution. The surprising variability of amino acids at catalytic positions was decisive for a subsequent analysis of the diversity of functional sites in general. Using functional residues extracted from structural complexes I could show that functional sites of protein domains do not only vary in their type of amino acid but also in their structural location within the domain. In the process of evolution, protein domains have arisen from duplication events and subsequently adapted to new binding partners and developed new functions, which is reflected in the high variability of functional sites. However, great differences exist between domain families. The analysis demonstrated that functional sites of nuclear domains are more conserved than functional sites of extracellular domains. Furthermore, the type of ligand influences the degree of conservation, for example ion binding sites are more conserved than peptide binding sites. The work presented in this thesis has led to the detection of functional sites in various protein domains involved in signalling pathways and it has resulted in insights into the molecular function of those domains. In addition, properties of functional sites of protein domains were revealed. This knowledge can be used in the future to improve the prediction of protein function and to identify functional sites of proteins.
Platelet activation and adhesion resulting in thrombus growth is essential for normal hemostasis, but can lead to irreversible, life-threatening vessel occlusion. In the current study, the contribution of platelet integrins, activation receptors and the contact system of blood coagulation in such pathological conditions was investigated in mice.
In this project two novel murine autoimmune models were to be established in an attempt to further investigate the nervous system disorders of Multiple Sclerosis and Guillain Barré Syndrome. Previous experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and experimental autoimmune neuritis (EAN) models have demonstrated that T cells play a major role in these diseases. Which roles CD4 and CD8 T cells specifically have in the initiation, propagation and termination of an autoimmune nervous system disorder remains controversial. To this end two transgenic mice specifically expressing the neo-antigen (Ag) ovalbumin (OVA) in either the central nervous system (CNS) or peripheral nervous system (PNS) were to be generated. The myelin basic protein (MBP) is a major component of the myelin sheath both within the CNS and the PNS. Therefore the MBP promoter was employed for its distinct regulatory elements to facilitate exclusive CNS or PNS OVA expression. The adoptive transfer of OVA specific MHCI restricted (OT-I) and MHCII restricted (OT-II) TCR Tg T cells extended the OVA Tg mouse model by allowing potentially encephalitogenic T cells to be tracked in vivo. Specificity for the target Ag should enable the dynamic role of antigen specific T cells in neuroinflammatory diseases to be revealed in more detail.
A Lie algebraic generalization of the classical and the Sort-Jacobi algorithm for diagonalizing a symmetric matrix has been proposed. The coordinate free setting provides new insights in the nature of Jacobi-type methods and allows a unified treatment of several structured eigenvalue and singular value problems, including so far unstudied normal form problems. Local quadratic convergence has been shown for both types of Jacobi methods with a fully comprehension of the regular and irregular case. New sweep methods have been introduced that generalize the special cyclic sweep for symmetric matrices and ensure local quadratic convergence also for irregular elements. The new sweep methods yield faster convergence behavior than the previously known cyclic schemes.
The studies presented in this thesis deal with resonant and non-resonant excitation of free variable size clusters using synchrotron radiation in the soft X-ray regime. The post collision interaction (PCI) effect is investigated in free variable size krypton and argon clusters near the Kr 3d and Ar 2p ionization energies. The core ionization energies of surface and bulk sites in variable size clusters can be clearly distinguished. This is mostly due to the polarization screening. It is found that the asymmetry, which is a consequence of PCI, is characteristically smaller for clusters than for isolated atoms. Moreover, there is less asymmetry for bulk sites than for surface sites in variable size rare gas clusters. We assign the results in terms of mechanisms that are based on quantum mechanical models of post collision interaction. Complementary experiments on the photoionization of free van der Waals clusters are performed by using zero kinetic energy (ZEKE) photoelectron spectroscopy in the Ar 2p-, Kr 3d-, Ne 1s-, and N2-regimes. The experimental approach is also suitable to detect cluster size dependent changes in electronic structure. This also allows us to study post collision interaction in variable size clusters. The parameters of the PCI profiles deduced for ZEKE experiments indicate that there are no significant changes in core ionization dynamics compared to near-threshold experiments. Results from model calculations in Kr 3d ionization energy indicate that different geometric sites can be clearly distinguished from each other by their substantial shift in Kr 3d ionization energy, though the dimer shows almost the same Kr 3d ionization energy as the free atom. A comparison with the experimental results indicates that there is resemblance with the model calculations, even though close-lying ionization energies are blended and require deconvolutions of the experimental spectra. It is evident from the present work that one can observe distinct shifts in core ionization energies in van der Waals clusters that are formed in wide size distributions of a jet expansion. The emission of ultraviolet fluorescence radiation from variable size argon clusters is investigated with high spectral resolution in the Ar 2p-excitation regime. The fluorescence excitation spectra reveal strong fluorescence intensity in the Ar 2p-continuum, but no evidence for the occurrence of discrete low-lying core-exciton states in the near-edge regime. This finding is different from the absorption and photoionization cross sections of argon clusters and the solid. The dispersed fluorescence shows a broad molecular band centered near 280 nm. The present results are consistent with the formation of singly charged, excited moieties within the clusters, which are assigned as sources of the radiative relaxation in the 280 nm regime. A fast energy transfer process (interatomic Coulombic decay, ICD) is assigned to be primarily the origin of these singly charged, excited cations besides intra-cluster electron impact ionization by Auger electrons. Our findings give possibly the first experimental evidence for ICD in the core level regime. Free, variable size nitrogen clusters are investigated in the N 1s excitation regime in comparison with the free molecule and solid nitrogen. The conversion of Rydberg states into core excitons, surface and bulk, was studied. The experimental results are simulated by ab initio calculations using (N2)13 as a reasonable prototype cluster structure that allows us to simulate both surface and bulk properties in comparison with the isolated molecule. The present results clearly show that there are specific properties, such as molecular orientation, in molecular van der Waals clusters, which do not exist in atomic van der Waals clusters. It is shown that inner and outer surface sites give rise to distinct energy shifts of the low lying surface core excitons.
The geologic barrier represents the final contact between a landfill and the environment. Ideally suited are clays and mudstones because of sufficient vertical and lateral extent, low hydraulic conductivities and high sorptive characteristics. Since hydraulic conductivity is no longer the single criteria to determine transport and retardation of contaminants in geologic landfill barrier materials, diffusive and sorptive characteristics of 4 different clay and mudstone lithologies in Northern Bavaria, were investigated. Cored samples from various depths were included in this study and subjected to evaluations of geochemistry, mineralogy, physical parameters, sorption and diffusion. A transient double reservoir with decreasing source concentration was designed and constructed using clear polycarbonate cylinders for undisturbed clay plugs of 2 to 4cm thickness. Samples were also fitted with internal electrical conductivity probes to determine the migration of the diffusive front. A multi chemical species synthetic landfill leachate was contrived to simulate and evaluate natural pollutant conditions. A computational method for determining mineralogy from geochemical data was also developed. It was found that sorptive processes are mostly controlled by the quality and type of fine grained phyllosilicates and the individual chemical species involved exhibited linear, Freundlich, as well as Langmuir sorption properties. Effective diffusion and sorption coefficients were also determined using POLLUTEv6 (GAEA, 1997) software and receptor reservoir concentrations for K, Na, Ca, Cu, NH4, Cl, NO3, SO4, and concentration totals at predetermined time intervals. Anion exclusion proved to be a major factor in the diffusion process and was used to explain many observed anomalies. Furthermore, diffusion coefficients were found not to be static with a multi chemical species leachate, but actually varied during the course of the experiment. Strong indications point toward the major role of pore space quality, shape, and form as control of diffusive properties of a geologic barrier. A correlation of CECNa of the samples with De may point to a possible deduction of diffusive properties for multi species leachates without extensive and time consuming laboratory tests
We use algebraic closures and structures which are derived from these in complexity theory. We classify problems with Boolean circuits and Boolean constraints according to their complexity. We transfer algebraic structures to structural complexity. We use the generation problem to classify important complexity classes.
The one electron oxidation potential of ten TAAs with all permutations of Cl , OMe- and Me-substituents in the three p-positions were determined by CV. The half wave potential of the first oxidation wave correlates linearly with the number of Cl- and OMe-substituents. AM1-CISD derived values of the absorption energies are in good agreement with the experiments but differ strongly for the oscillator strengths as well as for neutral compounds and their corresponding mono radical cations. The small solvent dependence of the experimental UV/Vis spectra in CH2Cl2 and MeCN reflects a minor charge transfer character of the electronic transitions. The UV/Vis/NIR spectra of the series of TAAs and their corresponding radical cations and the AM1 computations reveal that even small substituents may lead to strong symmetry breaking and to a modified electronic structure. The spectroscopic properties of a series of four bis-TAA donor-bridge-donor X-B-X dimers, composed of two asymmetric TAA chromophores (monomers) were investigated. UV/vis-, fluorescence and transient absorption spectra were recorded and compared with those of the corresponding X-B monomers. The excited states of the dimers are described as MV states which show, depending on the chemical nature of the bridge, a varying amount of interactions. It was found that superradiant emission only proceeds in the case of weak and medium coupling. Whether the first excited state potential energy surface of the dimers is a single minimum or a double minimum potential depends on the solvent polarity and the electronic coupling. In the latter case, the dimer relaxes in a symmetry broken CT state. The [2.2]paracyclophane bridged dimer is an example for a weakly coupled system, because the spectroscopic behavior is very similar to the corresponding p xylene monomer. In contrast, anthracene as well as p-xylene bridges mediate a stronger coupling and reveal a significant cooperative influence on the optical properties. A series of [2.2]paracylophane bridged bis-TAA MV radical cations X-B-X+ were analyzed by a GMH three-level model which takes two transitions into account: the IV-CT band and the bridge band. From the GMH analysis, one can conclude that the [2.2]paracyclophane moiety is not the limiting factor which governs the intramolecular charge transfer. The electronic interactions are of course smaller than direct conjugation but from the order of magnitude of the couplings of the [2.2]paracyclophane MV species it can be assumed that this bridge is able to mediate significant through-space and through-bond interactions. From the exponential dependence of the electronic coupling V between the two TAA localized states on the distance r between the two redox centers, it was inferred that the HT proceeds via superexchange mechanism. The analysis reveals that even significantly longer conjugated bridges should still mediate significant electronic interactions, because the decay constant of a series of conjugated MV species is small. The absorption properties of a series of bis-TAA-[2.2]paracyclophane dications X+-B-X+ were presented. The localized and the CT transitions of these dications are explained and analyzed by an exciton coupling model which also considers the photophysical properties of the monomeric TAA radical cations. Together with AM1-CISD calculated transition moments, experimental transition moments and transition energies of the bis-TAA dications were used to calculate electronic couplings by a GMH approach. These couplings are a measure for interactions of the excited MV CT states. The modification of the diabatic states reveals similarities of the GMH three-level model and the exciton coupling model. Comparison of the two models shows that the transition moment between the excited mixed-valence states of the dimer equals the dipole moment difference of the ground and the excited bridge state of the corresponding monomer. Thianthrenophane (1) has a cavity which offers enough room to potentially enable endohedral coordination to small ions or molecules. For the complexation of silver(I) perchlorate, the complex stability constants of thianthrenophane logK1=5.45 and of thianthrene logK2=9.16 were determined by UV/Vis titration. Single competition transport experiments with ten metal salts demonstrate a very high selectivity of thianthrenophane as a carrier for silver(I) and a distinctly higher transport rate compared to carriers such as thianthrene and 14-ane-S4. Although the X-ray crystal structure analysis of the polymeric [Ag(1)]ClO4 shows an exohedral coordination to silver(I), the formation of an endohedral [Ag(1)]+ complex is suggested to be the explanation for the unusual carrier selectivity of silver(I) by 1 in bulk liquid membrane.
In this work the influence of “active” bridge units on the electron transfer (ET) mechanism within organic donor-bridge-electrode arrays in self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) was studied by spectroscopic and electrochemical methods. In the first part of this work ferrocenealkanethiols 1 – 3 and the ferrocenearylthiols 4, 5 were investigated to get experience in the monolayer preparation for measuring ET rates. Cyclic voltammetry of the monolayers indicates that homogeneously mixed monolayers containing redox active molecules and dummy molecules were formed. For the known ferrocenealkanethiols 1 – 3 the ET rates could be confirmed compared to the ones measured by Creager et al. [206]. As expected the ET rate decreases by increasing chain length of the alkane spacer from 2 to 3. Changing the bonding between the redox centre and the alkane spacer with the same bridge lenght, e. g. by using a carboxy-group in case of 1, does not influence the ET behaviour very strong. The aromatic ferrocenethiols 4 and 5 show very high ET rates due to the strong conjugated system although the distance between the redox centre and the electrode is comparable to the C8-alkyl compound 2. The electronic coupling factors all indicate a nonadiabatic ET between the redox centre and the electrode. As expected the electronic coupling factors increase with decreasing spacer length or with an enlarged conjugated system. To sum up, experience in monolayer preparation could be obtained, the measured ET rates for well known ferrocenealkane-compounds 1 - 3 could be verified and the information could be transferred to the conjugated systems 4 and 5. In the second part the triarylamine- 29, 32 and the phenothiazinealkanethiol 35 have been examined relative to their ET behaviour in mixed monolayers. The cyclic voltammograms of the diluted monolayers indicate that homogeneously formed monolayers are present. The ET rates of triarylamine- 29, 32 and phenothiazinealkanethiols 35 are 10 to 100 times higher than compared to ferrocenealkanethiols with equal chain length[183, 206], whereas in a [Ru(bpy)2(pp)]+-containing monolayer the same value was observed [177]. Almost two parameters influence the ET rate constant: the electronic coupling matrix element and the reorganisation energy  [209]. The ET rate in donor substituted alkanethiols is mainly influenced by the reorganisation energy  [177] and even small changes have a dramatic effect on the observed processes, therefore an increasing ET rate from the ferrocene (high reorganisation energy) over the phenothiazine 35 and the [Ru(bpy)2(pp)]+ to the triarylamine chromophores 29 and 32 (low reorganisation energy) is observed. Furthermore the bonding between the redox centres and the alkane spacer plays an important role on the ET rate in case of the triarylamines 29 and 32 opposite to the assumption made by Creager et al. that the connection does not play any role. For the electron rich ether connected compound 29 the ET is not only dominated by the reorganisation energy but also by mesomeric effects where the positive charge of the electron rich derivative 29 is more located at the ether function so that the chain is formally shortend by one atom resulting in higher ET rates than compared to 32. In the third part of the thesis a series of “molecular wires” consisting of methoxy- or chloro-substituted triarylamines and phenothiazines with different bridge units and bridge length between the redox centre and the anchor thiol function have been prepared in order to investigate their ET-behaviour. Cyclic voltammetry and UV/vis-spectroscopy show that the oxidation potential and the energetic states could be controlled very well by introducing different redox centres and bridge units resulting in a decreasing oxidation potential of the redox centres and a bathochromic shift of the absorption bands in the UV/vis-spectra. Also the densitiy of the chromophores in mixed monolayers could be controlled very well for only three compounds (49, 52 and 87) with nitrile-substituted bridges reliable ET rates could be obtained. In these chromophores the ET rate decreases by increasing the density of the redox active molecules in the mixed monolayers indicating that the adsorption geometry changes with coverage with the chromophores tilting to a more upright orientation as the surface becomes more crowded. For all other compounds the measurements were limited by the fast ET rates. Conformational, as well as a very weak distance dependence of the ET resulting in very high ET rates [172] or unfavourable HOMO-LUMO energies of the donor, bridge and the electrode are reasons for this behaviour. The fact that compound 49 shows almost the same rate constant independent of the length (n = 2 or n = 3) may indicate that a hopping process is operating for which a much weaker length dependence is expected than in the case of a superexchange.
Diese Arbeit enthält Untersuchungen von Magnetowiderstandseffekten in (Ga,Mn)As basierten ferromagnetischen Halbleiterdioden. Die Resultate wurden in den folgenden Artikeln veröffentlicht: [1] C. Rüster, T. Borzenko, C. Gould, G. Schmidt, L.W. Molenkamp, X. Liu, T.J.Wojtowicz, J.K. Furdyna, Z.G. Yu and M. Flatt´e, Very Large Magnetoresistance in Lateral Ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As Wires with Nanoconstrictions, Physical Review Letters 91, 216602 (2003). [2] C. Gould, C. Rüster, T. Jungwirth, E. Girgis, G.M. Schott, R. Giraud, K. Brunner, G. Schmidt and L.W. Molenkamp, Tunneling Anisotropic Magnetoresistance: A Spin-Valve-Like Tunnel Magnetoresistance Using a Single Magnetic Layer, Physical Review Letters 93, 117203 (2004). [3] C. Rüster, C. Gould, T. Jungwirth, J. Sinova, G.M. Schott, R. Giraud, K. Brunner, G. Schmidt and L.W. Molenkamp, Very Large Tunneling Anisotropic Magnetoresistance of a (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs/(Ga,Mn)As Stack, Physical Review Letters 94, 027203 (2005). [4] C. Rüster and C. Gould, T. Jungwirth, E. Girgis, G.M. Schott, R. Giraud, K. Brunner, G. Schmidt and L.W. Molenkamp, Tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance: Creating a spin-valve-like signal using a single ferromagnetic semiconductor layer, Journal of Applied Physics 97, 10C506 (2005).
The vertebrate spinal cord is composed of billions of neurons and glia cells, which are formed in a highly coordinated manner during early neurogenesis. Specification of these cells at distinct positions along the dorsoventral (DV) axis of the developing spinal cord is controlled by a ventrally located signaling center, the medial floor plate (MFP). Currently, the origin and time frame of specification of this important organizer are not clear. During my PhD thesis, I have analyzed the function of the novel secreted growth factor Midkine-a (Mdka) in zebrafish. In higher vertebrates, mdk and the related factor pleiotrophin (ptn) are widely expressed during embryogenesis and are implicated in a variety of processes. The in-vivo function of both factors, however, is unclear, as knock-out mice show no embryonic phenotype. We have isolated two mdk co-orthologs, mdka and mdkb, and one single ptn gene in zebrafish. Molecular phylogenetic analyses have shown that these genes evolved after two large gene block duplications. In contrast to higher vertebrates, zebrafish mdk and ptn genes have undergone functional divergence, resulting in mostly non-redundant expression patterns and functions. I have shown by overexpression and knock-down analyses that Mdka is required for MFP formation during zebrafish neurulation. Unlike the previously known MFP inducing factors, mdka is not expressed within the embryonic shield or tailbud but is dynamically expressed in the paraxial mesoderm. I used epistatic and mutant analyses to show that Mdka acts independently from these factors. This indicates a novel mechanism of Mdka dependent MFP formation during zebrafish neurulation. To get insight into the signaling properties of zebrafish Mdka, the function of both Mdk proteins and the candidate receptor Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (Alk) have been compared. Knock-down of mdka and mdkb resulted in the same reduction of iridophores as in mutants deficient for Alk. This indicates that Alk could be a putative receptor of Mdks during zebrafish embryogenesis. In most vertebrate species a lateral floor plate (LFP) domain adjacent to the MFP has been defined. In higher vertebrates it has been shown that the LFP is located within the p3 domain, which forms V3 interneurons. It is unclear, how different cell types in this domain are organized during early embryogenesis. I have analyzed a novel homeobox gene in zebrafish, nkx2.2b, which is exclusively expressed in the LFP. Overexpression, mutant and inhibitor analyses showed that nkx2.2b is activated by Sonic hedgehog (Shh), but repressed by retinoids and the motoneuron-inducing factor Islet-1 (Isl1). I could show that in zebrafish LFP and p3 neuronal cells are located at the same level along the DV axis, but alternate along the anteroposterior (AP) axis. Moreover, these two different cell populations require different levels of HH signaling and nkx2.2 activities. This provides new insights into the structure of the vertebrate spinal cord and suggests a novel mechanism of neural patterning.
The biotransformation of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane was investigated in rats and in in vitro systems. First, the metabolites were identified in vivo using GC/MS and 19F NMR analysis. The main metabolite was identified as trifluoroacetic acid, the minor metabolite as 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid and as a cleavage product, inorganic fluoride was found. As the in vitro system, liver microsomes from rat and human samples and rat liver homogenates were used. Trifluoroacetic acid and 3,3,3 trifluoropropionic acid were confirmed in vitro as metabolic intermediates, following biotransformation of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane by the cytochrome P-450-system. Studies, designed for clarifying the cardiotoxicity of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane were driven by the hypothesis that 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid is the toxic agent. This was based on the lethal toxicity, which was observed in previous in vivo experiments. In addition, the point of its structural similarity to toxic agents as for example monofluoroacetic acid or of possible metabolic intermediates like difluoroacrylic acid with known toxicity were considered to support this assumption. However, trifluoroacetic acid was neglected as the sought-after toxic agent because of its different toxic effects, known from literature. Investigations on the biotransformation of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid were performed and resulted in no metabolic activity and in poor elimination of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid in vivo. The histopathological effects on the heart, which were observed in the 90-day oral toxicity study of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane in rats, namely mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltrations and degenerated myocardial fibers, were not observed after a 28 day repeated exposure of up to 10 mg/kg b.w. of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid. However, a single high dose of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid lead to severe toxicological effects. The difference in the observed toxic effects after a single and repeated administration may be due to adaptive mechanisms in rats. The toxicological effects included clinical signs like ataxia, coma and cramps. The conditions of the rats suggested possible inhibition of the energy supply to the organism. Furthermore, the interference of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid in the functionality of the organism was investigated. Experiments were performed in vitro in rat liver and heart mitochondria to investigate effects on the mitochondrial ß-oxidation. However, the transformation of the substrate [U14C] palmitic acid in the ß oxidation pathway was not inhibited by 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid. In addition, no cytotoxicity of 3,3,3 trifluoropropionic acid was observed in the cell culture systems. The main effect after a single dose of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid was seen in clinical pathology and metabonomic analysis. The decrease in blood glucose is considered to have the most far-reaching consequences for the toxicity of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid. If considering this change as the primary effect after a single dose, secondary effects, for example, the above-mentioned clinical signs could be explained. In addition, the observed high level of ketone bodies might have been responsible for life-threatening possible ketoacidosis. In general, ketoacidosis occurs after an imbalance between glycolysis, lipolysis, TCA cycle activity and respiratory function. Based on the results, ß-oxidation of fatty acids was not affected, and due to the decrease in glucose levels and the high levels of acetyl CoA, glycolysis was considered not to be impaired. Increased amounts of acetyl CoA might be a result of insufficient activity of the TCA cycle. However, the inhibition of the TCA cycle can be based on the impairment of specific enzymes and/or on the involvement of messenger substrates like insulin. Supporting the first mentioned aspect are decreased levels of TCA cycle intermediates, like α-ketoglutarate or citrate, as seen in 1H-NMR spectra of urine. However, the second aspect would explain the drop in blood glucose with the impairment of glucose transporters or the impairment of the insulin balance. If a single dose of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid had stimulated the insulin release, glycolysis would be activated, and high amounts of acetyl CoA would be produced. In case of impaired use by the TCA cycle, levels of ketone bodies would be increased. Experiments were designed to characterize the direct effect of 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid on rat insulinoma-derived INS-1 cells as possible increase in insulin release. Further investigations are necessary to answer in which step of the metabolic pathway 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid interferes or finally which specific enzyme is inhibited or activated by 3,3,3-trifluoropropionic acid, leading to the drop in blood glucose and finally in lethal toxicity.
Flagellar motility and chemotaxis are essential virulence traits required for the ability of Helicobacter pylori to colonize the gastric mucosa. The flagellar regulatory network and the complex chemotaxis system of H. pylori are fundamentally different from other bacteria, despite many similarities. In H. pylori expression of the flagella is controlled by a complex regulatory cascade involving the two-component system FlgR-HP244, the sigma factors 54 and 28 and the anti-sigma 28 factor FlgM. Thus far, the input signal for histidine kinase HP244, which activates the transcriptional regulator FlgR, which triggers sigma factor 54-dependent transcription of the flagellar class 2 genes, is not known. Based on a yeast two-hybrid screen a highly significant protein-protein interaction between the H. pylori protein HP137 and both the histidine kinase HP244 and the flagellar hook protein HP908 (FlgE´) has been reported recently (Rain et al., 2001). So far, no function could be assigned to HP137. Interestingly, the interaction between HP137 and histidine kinase HP244 was observed in the characteristic block N sequence motif of the C-terminal ATP-binding kinase domain. In this work a potential role of HP137 in a feedback regulatory mechanism controlling the activity of histidine kinase HP244 in the flagellar regulation of H. pylori was investigated. Although the substitution of the gene encoding HP137 by a kanamycin cassette resulted in non-motile bacteria, the failure to restore motility by the reintroduction of hp137 in cis into the mutant strain, and the observation that HP137 has no significant effect on the activity of histidine kinase HP244 in vitro indicated that HP137 is not directly involved in flagellar regulation. Therefore, it was demonstrated that HP137 does not participate in the regulation of flagellar gene expression, neither in H. pylori nor in the closely related bacterium C. jejuni. Chemotactic signal transduction in H. pylori differs from the enterobacterial paradigm in several respects. In addition to a CheY response regulator protein (CheY1) H. pylori contains a CheY-like receiver domain (CheY2) which is C-terminally fused to the histidine kinase CheA. Furthermore, the genome of H. pylori encodes three CheV proteins consisting of an N-terminal CheW-like domain and a C-terminal receiver domain, while there are no orthologues of the chemotaxis genes cheB, cheR, and cheZ. To obtain insight into the mechanism controlling the chemotactic response of H. pylori the phosphotransfer reactions between the purified two-component signalling modules were investigated in vitro. Using in vitro phosphorylation assays it was shown that both H. pylori histidine kinases CheAY2 and CheA´ lacking the CheY-like domain (CheY2) act as ATP-dependent autokinases. Similar to other CheA proteins CheA´ shows a kinetic of phosphorylation represented by an exponential time course, while the kinetics of phosphorylation of CheAY2 is characterized by a short exponential time course followed by the hydrolysis of CheAY2~P. Therefore, it was demonstrated that the presence of the CheY2-like receiver domain influences the stability of the phosphorylated P1 domain of the CheA part of the bifunctional protein. Furthermore, it was proven that both CheY1 and CheY2 are phosphorylated by CheAY2 and CheA´~P and that the three CheV proteins mediate the dephosphorylation of CheA´~P, although with a clearly reduced efficiency as compared to CheY1 and CheY2. Moreover, CheA´ is capable of donating its phospho group to the CheY1 protein from C. jejuni and to CheY protein from E. coli. Retrophosphorylation experiments indicated that CheY1~P is able to transfer the phosphate group back to the HK CheAY2 and the receiver domain present in the bifunctional CheAY2 protein acts as a phosphate sink fine tuning the activity of the freely diffusible CheY1 protein, which is thought to interact with the flagellar motor. Hence, in this work evidence of a complex phosphorelay in the chemotaxis system was obtained which has similarities to other systems with multiple CheY proteins. The role of the CheV proteins remain unclear at the moment, but they might be engaged in a further fine regulation of the phosphate flow in this complex chemotaxis system and the independent function of the two domains CheA´ and CheY2 is not sufficient for normal chemotactic signalling in vivo.
In the experiments presented in this work, linear and non-linear femtosecond time-resolved spectrsocopy were applied to investigate the structure-function and functiondynamics relationship in biological and artificially designed systems. The experiments presented in this work utilize femtosecond time-resolved transient absorption and transient grating as well as picosecond time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to investigate the photophysics and photochemistry of biological photoreceptors and address the light-induced excited-state processes in a particular molecular device that serves as a - structurally - very simple light-harvesting antenna and potentially as a catalysis-switch for the production of hydrogen in solution. The combination of white-light probe transient absorption and coherent transient grating spectroscopies yields spectral information about the excited state absorption in concert with high quality, high signal-to-noise kinetic transients, which allow for precise fitting and therefore very accurate time-constants to be extracted from the data. The use of femtosecond time-resolved transient grating spectroscopy is relatively uncommon in addressing questions concerning the excited-state reaction pathways of complex (biological) systems, and therefore the experiments presented in this work constitute according to the literature the first studies applying this technique to a a metalloporphyrin and an artificial light-harvesting antenna.
Although spintronics has aroused increasing interest, much fundamental research has to be done. One important issue is the control over the electronic spin. Therefore, spin and phase coherent transport are very important phenomena. This thesis describes experiments with mercury based quantum well structures. This narrow gap material provides a very good template to study spin related effects. It exhibits large Zeeman spin splitting and Rashba spin-orbit splitting. The latter is at least four to five times larger than in III-V semiconductors. Initially a short review on the transport theory was presented. The main focus as on quantisation effects that are important to understand the related experiments. Thus, Shubnikov-de Haas and the quantum Hall effect have been analysed. Due to the first fabrication of nanostructures on Hg-based quantum well samples, the observation of ballistic transport effects could be expected. Hence, the Landauer-B¨uttiker theory has been introduced which gives the theoretical background to understand such effects. With respect to the main topic of this thesis, phase coherence has been introduced in detail. Experiments, where coherence effects could be observed, have been explained theoretically. Here, possible measurement setups have been discussed, e.g., a ring shaped structure to investigate the Aharonov-Bohm and related effects. Due to the fact, that all experiments, described in this thesis, were performed on Hg-based samples, the exceptional position of such samples among the “classical” semiconductors has been clarified. Hg1-xMnx Te quantum wells are type-III QWs in contrast to the type-I QWs formed by e.g., GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. With a well width of more than 6 nm and a manganese content of less than 7% they exhibit an inverted band alignment. Band structure calculations based on self consistent Hartree calculations have been presented. The common description of a diluted magnetic semiconductor with the Brillouin function has been introduced and the experiments to obtain the empiric parameters T0 and S0 have been presented. Rashba spin-orbit splitting and giant Zeeman splitting have been explained theoretically and the magnetic ordering of a spin glass as well as the relevant interactions therein have been discussed. The next chapter describes the first realisation of nanostructures on Hg-based heterostructures. Several material specific problems have been solved, but the unique features of this material system mentioned above justify the effort. Interesting new insight could be found and will be found with these structures. Onto a series of QW samples, cross-shaped structures with several lead widths have been patterned. With the non-local resistance measurement setup, evidence for quasiballistic transport was demonstrated in cross-shaped structures with lead widths down to 0.45 mm. The non-local bend resistance and a regime of rebound trajectories as well as the anomalous Hall effect could be identified. Monte-Carlo simulations of the classical electron trajectories have been performed. A good agreement with the experimental data has been achieved by taking a random scattering process into account. Encouraged by this success the technology has been improved and ring-shaped structures with radii down to 1 mm have been fabricated. Low temperature (below 100 mK), four terminal resistance measurements exhibit clear Aharonov-Bohm oscillations. The period of the oscillations agrees very well with a calculation that takes only the sample geometry into account. One goal using such a structure is the experimental prove of the spin-orbit Berry phase. Therefore an additional Shottky gate on top of the ring was needed. With this structure evidence for the Aharonov-Casher effect was observed. Here, a perpendicular applied electric field causes analogous oscillations as does the magnetic field in the AB effect. A subsequent change in the Rashba SO splitting due to several applied gate voltages while measuring the AB effect should reveal the SO Berry phase. Although initially evidence of a phase change was detected, a clear proof for the direct measurement of the SO Berry phase could not be found. In the future, with an advanced sample structure, e.g., with an additional Hall bar next to the ring, which permits a synchronous measurement of the Rashba splitting, it might be possible to measure the SO Berry phase directly. In manganese doped HgTe QWs two different effects simultaneously cause spin splitting: the giant Zeeman and the Rashba effect. By analysing the Shubnikovde Haas oscillations and the node positions of their beating pattern, it has been possible to separate these two effects. Whereas the Rashba effect can be identified by its dependence on the structure inversion asymmetry, varied by the applied gate voltage, the giant Zeeman splitting is extracted from its strong temperature dependence, because Rashba splitting is temperature independent. The analysis revealed, that the Rashba splitting is larger than or comparable to the giant Zeeman splitting even at moderately high magnetic fields. In an extraordinary HgMnTe QW sample, that exhibits the n= 1 quantum Hall plateau from less than 1 T up to 28 T, the anomalous Hall effect could be excluded. Intense studies on the temperature dependence of the QHE as well as band structure calculations have revealed this extraordinary behaviour to be an ordinary band structure effect of this system. In a series of mesoscopic structures on nonmagnetic and magnetic QWs, an investigation of the universal conductance uctuations have been carried out. In the