Extended Diethylglycine Homopeptides Formed by Desulfurization of Their Tetrahydrothiopyran Analogues

Diethylglycine (Deg) homopeptides adopt the rare 2.0(5)-helical conformation, the longest three-dimensional structure that a peptide of a given sequence can adopt. Despite this unique conformational feature, Deg is rarely used in peptide design because of its poor reactivity. In this paper, we show that reductive desulfurization of oligomers formed from more reactive tetrahydrothiopyran-containing precursors provides a practical way to build the longest Deg homopeptides so far made, and we detail some conformational studies of the Deg oligomers and their heterocyclic precursors

Conformational photoswitching of a synthetic peptide foldamer bound within a phospholipid bilayer

The dynamic properties of foldamers, synthetic molecules that mimic folded biomolecules, have mainly been explored in free solution.We report on the design, synthesis, and conformational behavior of photoresponsive foldamers bound in a phospholipid bilayer akin to a biological membrane phase. These molecules contain a chromophore, which can be switched between two configurations by different wavelengths of light, attached to a helical synthetic peptide that both promotes membrane insertion and communicates conformational change along its length. Light-induced structural changes in the chromophore are translated into global conformational changes, which are detected by monitoring the solid-state 19 F nuclear magnetic resonance signals of a remote fluorine-containing residue located 1 to 2 nanometers away. The behavior of the foldamers in the membrane phase is similar to that of analogous compounds in organic solvents

Comparative Analysis of Connection and Disconnection in the Human Brain Using Diffusion MRI: New Methods and Applications

Institute for Adaptive and Neural ComputationDiffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dmri) is a technique that can be used to examine the diffusion characteristics of water in the living brain. A recently developed application of this technique is tractography, in which information from brain images obtained using dmri is used to reconstruct the pathways which connect regions of the brain together. Proxy measures for the integrity, or coherence, of these pathways have also been defined using dmri-derived information. The disconnection hypothesis suggests that specific neurological impairments can arise from damage to these pathways as a consequence of the resulting interruption of information flow between relevant areas of cortex. The development of dmri and tractography have generated a considerable amount of renewed interest in the disconnectionist thesis, since they promise a means for testing the hypothesis in vivo in any number of pathological scenarios. However, in order to investigate the effects of pathology on particular pathways, it is necessary to be able to reliably locate them in three-dimensional dmri images. The aim of the work described in this thesis is to improve upon the robustness of existing methods for segmenting specific white matter tracts from image data, using tractography, and to demonstrate the utility of the novel methods for the comparative analysis of white matter integrity in groups of subjects. The thesis begins with an overview of probability theory, which will be a recurring theme throughout what follows, and its application to machine learning. After reviewing the principles of magnetic resonance in general, and dmri and tractography in particular, we then describe existing methods for segmenting particular tracts from group data, and introduce a novel approach. Our innovation is to use a reference tract to define the topological characteristics of the tract of interest, and then search a group of candidate tracts in the target brain volume for the best match to this reference. In order to assess how well two tracts match we define a heuristic but quantitative tract similarity measure. In later chapters we demonstrate that this method is capable of successfully segmenting tracts of interest in both young and old, healthy and unhealthy brains; and then describe a formalised version of the approach which uses machine learning methods to match tracts from different subjects. In this case the similarity between tracts is represented as a matching probability under an explicit model of topological variability between equivalent tracts in different brains. Finally, we examine the possibility of comparing the integrity of groups of white matter structures at a level more fine-grained than a whole tract

Comparison of Brain Networks based on Predictive Models of Connectivity

In this study we adopt predictive modelling to identify simultaneously commonalities and differences in multi-modal brain networks acquired within subjects. Typically, predictive modelling of functional connectomes from structural connectomes explores commonalities across multimodal imaging data. However, direct application of multivariate approaches such as sparse Canonical Correlation Analysis (sCCA) applies on the vectorised elements of functional connectivity across subjects and it does not guarantee that the predicted models of functional connectivity are Symmetric Positive Matrices (SPD). We suggest an elegant solution based on the transportation of the connectivity matrices on a Riemannian manifold, which notably improves the prediction performance of the model. Randomised lasso is used to alleviate the dependency of the sCCA on the lasso parameters and control the false positive rate. Subsequently, the binomial distribution is exploited to set a threshold statistic that reflects whether a connection is selected or rejected by chance. Finally, we estimate the sCCA loadings based on a de-noising approach that improves the estimation of the coefficients. We validate our approach based on resting-state fMRI and diffusion weighted MRI data. Quantitative validation of the prediction performance shows superior performance, whereas qualitative results of the identification process are promising.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Reversible Capture and Release of a Ligand Mediated by a Long-Range Relayed Polarity Switch in a Urea Oligomer

[Image: see text] Ethylene-bridged oligoureas characterized by a continuous, switchable chain of hydrogen bonds and carrying a binding site (an N,N′-disubstituted urea) for a hydrogen-bond-accepting ligand (a phosphine oxide) were synthesized. These oligomers show stronger ligand binding when the binding site is located at the hydrogen-bond-donating terminus than when the same binding site is at the hydrogen-bond-accepting terminus. An acidic group at the terminus remote from the binding site allows hydrogen bond polarity, and hence ligand binding ability, to be controlled remotely by a deprotonation/reprotonation cycle. Addition of base induces a remote conformational change that is relayed through up to five urea linkages, reducing the ability of the binding site to retain an intermolecular association to its ligand, which is consequently released into solution. Reprotonation returns the polarity of the oligomer to its original directionality, restoring the function of the remote binding site, which consequently recaptures the ligand. This is the first example of a synthetic molecular structure that relays intermolecular binding information, and these “dynamic foldamer” structures are prototypes of components for chemical systems capable of controlling chemical function from a distance

Lithiation chemistry of vinyl ureas

The construction of tertiary alkylamines is a synthetic challenge exacerbated by the poor electrophilicity of imines. Due to the presence of this kind of building block in a large number of bioactive molecules, the development of new strategies to synthesise the quaternary carbon centre is essential. This thesis describes the work carried out on the rearrangement of lithiated vinyl ureas in order to form α-tertiary amines. The first part presents how vinyl ureas were synthesised, using the reaction between an imine and an aryl isocyanate. The development of one-pot process allows the synthesis of a range of ureas in large scale. These vinyl ureas present unusual reactivity: the electron-rich double bond can undergo syn umpolung carbolithiation followed by retentive aryl migration in order to generate highly substituted amines after cleavage of the urea. The complete mechanism is investigated to understand fully the diastereoselective pathway of the reaction. In the next part, the rearrangement of lithiated ureas is extended to the N to C vinyl transfer. Different vinyl migrating group are investigated and α-tertiary amines have been synthesised in high yields and enantiomerically pure form using this new rearrangement. The mechanistic insights of the reaction are also studied and a retentive mechanism will be identified. Finally, N to C vinyl transfer is applied toward the synthesis of Erythrina alkaloids.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceEPSRCGBUnited Kingdo

Dearomatising addition of tethered organolithiums to activated benzene derivatives

This thesis describes research carried out on the synthesis of lithiation precursors used to investigate the ability of oxazoline activated benzene derivatives to undergo dearomatising cyclisations. Chapter 1 illustrates previous work in the area of dearomatising additions, including intra- and inter-molecular dearomatisations. An overview of relevant work conducted within the Clayden group is also described. Chapter 2 narrates the synthesis of lithiation precursors that contain a (4R,5R)-4,5-diphenyloxazoline activating group on the aromatic ring. The attempts to lithiate and dearomatise these compounds are shown. Chapter 3 describes the synthesis of achiral oxazoline activated O-allylic pre-lithiation substrates, and their ability to undergo dearomatising cyclisations. Also described is the attempts to find a suitable protecting group for N-allylic dearomatising cyclisations. Chapter 4 outlines the investigations carried out for the stereoselective synthesis of (4R,5R)-4,5-diphenyloxazolines, which have been used for the activation towards dearomatising cyclisation. Chapter 5 is an overview of the thesis and outlines possible future work.Chapter 6 contains the experimental methods and data pertaining to Chapters 2 to 5.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo