Novel manganese(I) tricarbonyl complexes based on the tridentate bis(pyrazolyl)ethylamine (bpea) ligand with pendant functionalized phenyl groups were synthesized and conjugated to biological carrier systems like peptides and dendrimers. Their dark stability establishes them as CORM prodrugs. The monomers show a faster CO-release compared to the peptide and dendrimer conjugates. However, both monomers and peptide conjugates release two equivalents of CO upon photoactivation at 365 nm. The dendrimer conjugates can deliver up to seven equivalents of CO due to the higher number of Mn(CO)3 moieties per molecular unit. In the future, the biological activity of the conjugates needs to be further explored to establish the targeted delivery of CO to cells and tissues.

The experimental technique predominantly employed within the scope of this Thesis constitutes one subarea of femtochemistry: the time-resolved spectroscopy of photoin- duced chemical reactions in the liquid phase by means of molecular signatures in the mid-infrared (MIR) spectral range. Probing transient vibrational states, i.e., dynamic changes in the vibrational motion of specic molecular subunits or functional Groups allows for a distinct separation and assignment of measured signals to emerging molecular species. For this purpose, one key building block is indispensable, which most of the investigations carried out within the eld of femtochemistry have in common: a coherent light source delivering ultrashort laser pulses with a temporal duration that matches the femtosecond time scale on which molecular motions typically occur. This instrumentation enables the observation of photoinduced chemical reactions from the starting point|the excitation event to the appearance of intermediates to the nal formation of stable photoproducts after several pico- or nanoseconds. This work comprises the acquisition and presentation of time-resolved spectroscopic data related to promising molecular systems upon photoexcitation as well as the im- plementation and testing of experimental optical techniques both for the presented experiments but as well for experiments conceivable in the future. In addition, linear spectroscopy measurements and quantum-chemical simulations on the emerging chemical species have been carried out. In so doing, the primary processes and subse- quently emerging reaction products of two compounds on a timescale of several nanoseconds after photoexcitation have been elucidated in great detail. Both compounds, the [Mn(CO)3(tpm)]+ (tpm = tris(2-pyrazolyl)methane) CO-releasing molecule (CORM) and the 5-diazo Meldrum's acid (DMA), are of academic interest but in addition belong to molecular classes that might be utilized in the near future as dark-stable prodrugs under physiological conditions or that are already utilized in industrial chemistry procedures, respectively. The ndings of both studies gave rise to implement and examine two techniques for prospective transient absorption experiments, namely the shaping and characterization of ultraviolet (UV) laser pulses and the recording of two-photon excitation spectra. Beyond that, since each of the depicted experiments is based on the detection of weak transient absorption signals in the MIR spectral region, two dif- ferent detection schemes, via chirped-pulse upconversion (CPU) on the one hand and via direct multichannel MCT detection on the other hand, have been juxtaposed at the conclusion of this work. Since both techniques are suitable in femtosecond pump-probe measurements but thereby exhibit individual strengths and weaknesses, a comparative study provides clarication of the respective pros and cons. The first study introduced within this work investigates the complex photochemistry of DMA, a photoactive compound used in lithography and industrial chemistry. By femtosecond MIR transient absorption spectroscopy covering several nanoseconds, the light-induced dynamics and ultrafast formation of several photoproducts from the manifold of reaction pathways have been disclosed to form a coherent picture of the overall reaction scheme. After UV excitation of DMA dissolved in methanol to the second excited state S2, 70% of excited molecules relax back to the S0 ground state. In compet- ing processes, they can either undergo an intramolecular Wolff rearrangement to form ketene, which reacts with a solvent molecule to an enol intermediate and further to carboxylate ester, or they rst relax to the DMA S1 state, from where they can isomerize to a diazirine. The third competing reaction channel, having the lowest quantum efficiency with respect to the rst two channels, is the formation of a singlet carbene out of the S1 state. From there an ylide can arise or, via an intersystem crossing, the triplet form of the carbene follows. Whereas the primary reaction steps occur on a picosecond timescale, the subsequently arising intermediates and stable photoproducts are formed within a few hundreds to thousands of picoseconds. For a reliable identication of the involved compounds, density functional theory calculations on the normal modes and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy of the reactant and the photoproducts in the chemical equilibrium accompany the analysis of the transient spectra. Additional experiments in ethanol and isopropanol led to slight spectral shifts as well as elongated time constants due to steric hindrance in transient spectra connected with the ester Formation channel, further substantiating the assignment of the occurring reaction pathways and photoproducts. The study demonstrated that the combination of linear and time-resolved spectroscopic measurements in conjunction with quantum-chemical calculations constitutes a powerful tool to unravel even highly complex photoreactions exhibiting multiple consecutive intermediate states within parallel reaction pathways. Although some of the individual reaction steps, for example the ketene formation via Wolff rearrangement, have been observed on ultrashort time scales before, this work encompassed the Observation of the whole set of appearing photoproducts of DMA in different alcohol solutions within several nanoseconds. In this sense, the ultrafast photochemistry of DMA represents a prototype example for a multisequential reaction scheme, elucidated by the capabilities of femtosecond MIR spectroscopy. With a modified instrumentation concerning amongst others the system delivering the fundamental laser pulses or the generation of the UV pump pulses, the next ob- jective within this work was to elucidate the primary processes upon UV Irradiation of a manganese tricarbonyl CORM in aqueous environment. The time-resolved experiment was performed with two different pump wavelengths and furthermore supported by linear spectroscopy methods and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations on the excited states as well as DFT calculations on the ground states. The measurements revealed that irradiating the compound with UV excitation pulses primarily leads to ultrafast photolysis of one CO ligand. Geminate recombination may occur within one picosecond but it remains a minor process as the photolyzed CO group is liberated and the unoccupied coordination site is predominantly filled by an incoming solvent molecule. There was no evidence for hot CO bands, i.e., the remaining CO ligands|in the dicarbonyl photoproduct as well as in the intact CORM are not vibrationally excited through the UV excitation of the CORM. According to this, the excess energy merges into low-frequency vibrational modes associated with the molecule as a whole. Since studies on a macroscopic scale at irradiation times of several minutes prove that UV irradiation eventually leads to the release of two or even all three CO ligands, further loss of CO most likely necessitates manganese oxidation or another interaction with light. To clarify the latter, a consecutive UV pulse was employed in order to excite the photoproducts subsequent to the initial pump interaction. However, the data obtained was not instructive enough to denitely exclude the manganese oxidation being responsible for the loss of further CO groups. Besides the exchange of a CO Group by a solvent molecule or the geminate recombination, the employment of two different excitation wavelengths in combination with ndings derived from the TDDFT calculations suggested another reaction process, namely the possibility that the excitation does not lead to any bond cleavage at all. As the CORM under investigation is tissue-selective and cytotoxic against cancer cells, knowledge of these rst photoinduced reaction steps is essential for a full understanding of its biological activity. Inspired by these two studies, experimental techniques for prospective transient absorption measurements have been implemented and tested within preparative measure- ments. First, in the course of a UV-pump-MIR-probe experiment with specically tailored excitation pulses, one could pursue the aim of coherently controlling the outcome of a photoreaction in the liquid phase. Out of the rich photochemistry of DMA the vibrational signature of a particular molecular species might thereby serve as a feedback signal, which is a central part of a learning loop that adaptively determines the pulse shape that steers the quantum mechanical system upon photoexcitation into a desired direction. This motivated the installation and testing of devices by means of which the shaping and characterization of ultrashort laser pulses in the UV could be performed. Second, motivated by the biological applications of CORMs, one can imagine a scenario where a certain amount of CORMs is deposited inside cancerous tissue. Since the activation of CO loss by means of UV pulses is not possible due to the absorption characteristics of biological tissue, the simultaneous excitation via two photons from the visible spectral regime seems appealing. However, success or failure of such an application depends on whether the deposited compound efficiently absorbs two photons simultaneously, i.e., whether the two-photon absorption cross section is large enough. Therefore, a setup to record two-photon excitation spectra under full consideration of the crucial laser pulse parameters like the pulse duration, energy and central wavelength was arranged and tested. The rst results were obtained with a commercially available reference system (Mn2CO10) but the setup as well as the described measurement and data analysis procedure can easily be applied to record the two-photon absorption cross section of more promising molecular systems. Third, as the detection of probe pulses in the MIR spectral region is part of each time-resolved measurement throughout this thesis, a comparison between the newly established technique of CPU and direct multi- channel MCT detection is presented by means of pump{probe experiments on Mn2CO10 and Co4CO12 with a 1 kHz shot-to-shot data acquisition. It was shown that the CPU detection technique scores with its high spectral resolution and coverage of the easy-to-handle and more cost-effective CCD detectors. On the other hand, in the course of the additional nonlinear upconversion process intensity fluctuations of the chirped fundamental pulses are transferred to the probe spectrum in the visible regime. This entails a lower signal-to-noise ratio than the direct MCT detection, which can be compensated by an additional normalization procedure applied to the CPU probe pulses. As a consequence, the CPU detection scheme offers more flexibility for future investigations employing MIR probe pulses. This is of great importance for many applications within the presented eld of femtochemistry as a huge variety of time-resolved investigations on a multitude of systems in the liquid phase is based on the detection of weak transient absorption signals in the MIR spectral region.

Bei der Behandlung solider Tumoren spielen systemisch verabreichte Chemotherapeutika eine wich- tige Rolle. Allerdings akkumulieren diese Therapeutika besser in normalem Gewebe als in Tumoren. Als Ursache für diesen unzureichenden Transport von Medikamenten in den Tumor wurde bisher vor allem die dysfunktionale Tumorvaskulatur diskutiert. Diese befindet sich in einem chaotischen und unreifen Zustand ohne ausreichende Bedeckung der Gefäße mit stabilisierenden Perizyten. Aus dem Zustand der Vaskulatur resultierend erreichen Medikamente den Tumor nur in geringem Ausmaß und werden dort heterogen verteilt. Als Grund für den Zustand der Vaskulatur wur- de ein großer Überschuss an pro-angiogenetischen Faktoren im Tumor ausgemacht. Durch eine anti-angiogenetische Behandlung konnte in präklinischen Modellen für einen gewissen Zeitraum die Tumorvaskulatur „normalisiert“ werden. Dies zeichnete sich vor allem durch Veränderung von zwei wichtigen Parametern für die Medikamenteneinbringung aus: zum Einen kommt es zu einer Reduktion der Gefäßdichte. Zum Anderen zu einer Reifung der Blutgefäße. In einem Teil von Pati- enten scheint dabei der Effekt der Gefäßverbesserung zu überwiegen und es kann eine verbesserte Perfusion detektiert werden. Mutmaßlich führt dies auch zu einer verbesserten Einbringung von Therapeutika in den Tumor und so zu einer erhöhten Effizienz der Therapie. In einem weiteren Teil der Patienten scheint jedoch der Effekt der Gefäßreduktion zu überwiegen und die detektierte Perfusion im Tumor wird durch die Behandlung verringert. Das in dieser Arbeit verwendete MT6-Fibrosarkom-Modell reagierte auf eine anti-angiogenetische Therapie nicht mit einer sonst in murinen Modellen beobachteten Wachstumsreduktion. Die- se ermöglichte eine so bisher nicht mögliche Untersuchung der sekundären Effekte einer anti- angiogenetischen Therapie wie die Medikamenteneinbringung in den Tumor. Die Vaskulatur in MT6-Tumoren zeigte dabei nach einer anti-angiogenetischen Vorbehandlung, die erwarteten Merk-male einer „normalisierten“ Vaskulatur wie eine Reduktion der Gefäßdichte bei gleichzeitiger Rei- fung der verbleibenden Gefäße. Dies führte jedoch nicht zu einer verbesserten Effizienz einer subsequenten Chemotherapie. Durch Vergleich mit einem weiteren Tumor-Modell, dem 4T1-Modell für ein metastasierendes Mammakarzinom, konnten signifikante Unterschiede im Gefäßbild beider Modelle ausgeschlossen werden. Durch mikroskopische Methoden konnte dabei beobachtet werden, dass die Diffusion von Medikamenten aus den Blutgefäßen des MT6-Modells im Vergleich zum 4T1-Modell verringert war. Weitere Untersuchungen deuten auf eine Differenz in der Qualität der extrazellulären Matrix der verwendeten Tumor-Modelle. Durch mRNA-Expressionsanalysen konnte die Enzymfamilie der Lysyloxidasen als mögliche Ursache für diesen Diffusionsunterschied identi- fiziert werden. Lysyloxidasen katalysieren vor allem die Quervernetzung von Proteinen der Extra- zellulärmatrix. Im Weiteren konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Quervernetzung von Matrixproteinen durch Lysyloxidasen ursächlich für die Diffusions-Inhibierung kleiner Moleküle wie das Chemo- therapeutikum Doxorubicin sein kann. Durch spezifische Inhibition der Lysyloxidasen mittels des Inhibitors βAPN konnte diese Diffusions-Inhibition sowohl in vitro als auch im MT6-Tumor-Modell nahezu vollständig verhindert werden. Die hohe Aktivität von Lysyloxidasen im MT6-Modell stell- te allerdings kein Alleinstellungsmerkmal dieses Modells dar. In weiteren Untersuchungen konnte gezeigt werden, dass Lysyloxidasen in einer Vielzahl von murinen und humanen Tumorzelllinien überexprimiert wird. Die Inhibition von Lysyloxidasen durch βAPN konnte dabei in allen unter- suchten Modellen die Einbringung von Medikamenten in den Tumor erhöhen und könnte so eine sinnvolle adjuvante Maßnahme zur Verbesserung bestehender Chemotherapien darstellen.

Luminescent organotransition metal complexes are of much current interest. As the large spin-orbit coupling of 2nd and 3rd row transition metals usually leads to rapid intersystem crossing from S1 to T1, which enables phosphorescence, there is a special interest in using triplet-emitting materials in organic or organometallic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Marder et al. have found that, reductive coupling of both para-R-substituted diarylbutadiynes and diaryldodecatetraynes on Rh(PMe3)4X leads to quantitative yields of bis(arylethynyl)-rhodacyclopentadienes with complete regiospecificity (R = BMes2, H, Me, OMe, SMe, CF3, CN, CO2Me, NMe2, NO2, C≡C-TMS and X = -C≡C-TMS, -C≡C-C6H4-4-NMe2, -C≡C-C≡C-C6H4-4-NPh2, Me, Cl).47,49 Unexpectedly, these compounds show intense fluorescence rather than phosphorescence (ɸf = 0.33-0.69, t = 1.2 3.0 ns). The substituent R has a significant influence on the photophysical properties, as absorption and emission are both bathochromically shifted compared to R = H, especially for R = π-acceptor. To clarify the mechanism of the formation of the rhodacyclopentadienes, and to investigate further their unique photophysical properties, a series of novel, luminescent rhodacyclopentadienes with dithiocarbamate as a bidentate ligand at the rhodium centre has been synthesised and characterised (R = NO2, CO2Me, Me, NMe2, SMe, Ar = C6F4-4-OMe). The rhodacyclopentadienes have been formed via reductive coupling of diaryl undecatetraynes with [Rh(k2-S,S`-S2CNEt2)(PMe3)2]. The structures of a series of such compounds were solved by single crystal X-ray diffraction and are discussed in this work. The compounds were fully characterised via NMR, UV/Vis and photoluminescence spectroscopy as well as by elemental analysis, high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and X-ray diffraction. When heating the reactions, another isomer is formed to a certain extent. The so-called dibenzorhodacyclopentadienes already appeared during earlier studies of Marder et al., when acetylacetonate (acac) was employed as the bidentate ligand at the Rh-centre. They are probably formed via a [4+2] cycloaddition reaction and C-H activation, followed by a β-H shift. Use of the perfluorinated phenyl moiety Ar = C6F4-4-OMe provided a total new insight into the mechanism of formation of the rhodacyclopentadiene isomers and other reactions. Besides the formation of the expected rhodacyclopentadiene, a bimetallic compound was generated, isolated and characterised via X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and high resolution mass spectrometry. For further comparison, analogous reactions with [Rh(k2 S,S` S2CNEt2)(PPh3)2] and a variety of diaryl undecatetraynes (R = NO2 CO2Me, Me, NMe2, SMe, Ar = C6F4-4-OMe) were carried out. They also yield the expected rhodacyclopentadienes, but quickly react with a second or even third equivalent of the tetraynes to form, catalytically, alkyne cyclotrimerisation products, namely substituted benzene derivatives (dimers and trimers), which are highly luminescent. The rhodacyclopentadienes (R = NO2, CO2Me, Me, SMe, Ar = C6F4-4-OMe) are stable and were isolated. The structures of a series of these compounds were obtained via single crystal X-ray crystallography and the compounds were fully characterised via NMR, UV/Vis and photoluminescence spectroscopy as well as by elemental analysis and HRMS. Another attempt to clarify the mechanism of formation of the rhodacyclopentadienes involved reacting a variety of diaryl 1,3-butadiynes (R = CO2Me, Me, NMe2, naphthyl) with [Rh(k2 S,S` S2CNEt2)(PMe3)2]. The reactions stop at an intermediate step, yielding a 1:1 trans π-complex, confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction and NMR spectroscopy. Only after several weeks, or under forcing conditions (µw / 80 °C, 75 h), the formation of another major product occurs, having bound a second diaryl 1,3-butadiyne. Based on earlier results of Murata, the product is identified as an unusual [3+2] cycloaddition product, ϭ-bound to the rhodium centre.

In the context of this work, important trends in the influence of the metal center, coligand, and alkyne reaction partner on the iClick reaction of square-planar palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes with a N^N^N, C^N^N, or S^N^N coordination sphere and a number of internal as well as terminal alkynes were elaborated. Preliminary bioactivity studies on a human cancer cell line gave low micromolar EC50 values, for the most promising compound comparable to cisplatin serving as a reference drug. The further application of the iClick reaction to bioconjugation will be explored in future work.