Design, Synthesis, and Reactivity of Bimetallic Complexes of Dimethylplatinum(II) Containing Ditopic Ligands

This thesis describes a study of monometallic and bimetallic dimethylplatinum(II) complexes containing ditopic nitrogen donor ligands. This work details the design and synthesis of side-to-side and cofacial arranged ligands and their respective coordination chemistry. The study of the synthesis, characterization and reaction mechanisms of the various dimethylplatinum(II) complexes is outlined in detail with special emphasis focused on the reactivity of the complexes towards oxidative addition. The ditopic ligand 6-dppd, 1,4-di(2-pyridyl)-5,6,7,8,9,10-hexahydrocycloocta[d]pyridazine, was observed to coordinate only a single equivalent of a platinum(II) center. The inability to coordinate a second equivalent, even through an assisted bridging atom, is presumed to be due to a steric clash between the free pyridyl group and the cyclooctyl backbone. In attempts to make heterobimetallic complexes of 6-dppd, the complex [PtMe2(6-dppd)] was observed to react preferentially with mercuric halides by oxidative addition rather than coordination of the mercuric salt in the second coordination site giving complexes [PtXMe2(HgX)(6-dppd)] where X = Br, Cl, OAc. This indicates that the platinum center is actually a better nucleophile than the free pyridyl nitrogen atom. The oxidative addition of solvent dichloromethane was also observed showing the enhanced reactivity of [PtMe2(6-dppd)]. Finally, [PtMe2(6-dppd)] was treated with DCl at low temperature to give the deuteridoplatinum(IV) complex. The deuteridoplatinum(IV) complex reductively eliminates methane in solution and extensive H/D exchange occurs into the CH4 product at low temperature indicating very easy reversibility of the exchange between hydridomethylplatinum(IV) and methaneplatinum(II) complexes. The abstraction of a chloride ligand from [PtClMe(6-dppd)] led to the formation of a complex dimer structure endo,endo-[Pt2Me2(µ2-κ3-6-dppd)2][OTf]2. This process allowed for the formation of a bimetallic platinum(II) complex which retained the initial stereochemistry. The protonolysis of [PtMe2(6-dppd)] with one equivalent of HOTf led to the generation of methane gas and the concomitant formation of both endo,endo-[Pt2Me2(µ2-κ3-6-dppd)2][OTf]2 and exo,exo-[Pt2Me2(µ2-κ3-6-dppd)2][OTf]2. The structures of the exo isomeric clamshell dimers appeared much less sterically hindered in the solid state and were observed experimentally and computationally to be the thermodynamically preferred isomers. The mechanism, selectivity and reversibility of this isomerism process was explored in detail. The reactions of [PtMe2(6-dppd)] with alkyl bromides RCH2Br, which possess hydrogen bonding functionality, result in the formation of stable organoplatinum(IV) complexes capable of forming supramolecular structure via hydrogen bonding. Both intra and inter molecular hydrogen bonding is observed in the formation of supramolecular architectures which self-assemble in the solid state through additional π-stacking and weak secondary interactions. The new anthracene derived ditopic ligands, bpad = N1,N8-bis(pyridin-2-ylmethylene)anthracene-1,8-diamine and adpa = (N,N)-4,4’-(anthracene-1,8-diylbis(ethyne-2,1-diyl))-bis(N-(pyridin-2-ylmethylene)aniline) were prepared, characterized and used to coordinate dimethylplatinum(II) centers giving cofacial bimetallic complexes of dimethylplatinum(II). [Pt2Me4(bpad)] was shown to degrade over time in solution through a proposed metalation event involving the anthracene backbone. The oxidative addition of a variety of substrates was performed using [Pt2Me4(adpa)] giving stable diplatinum(IV) complexes as characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The new xanthene derived ditopic ligands, ppxda = 2,7-di-tert­-butyl-9,9-dimethyl-N4,N5-bis(4-(pyridin-2-ylmethyleneamino)phenyl)-xanthene-4,5-dicarboxamide and pmxda = 2,7-di-tert-butyl-9,9-dimethyl-bis(pyridine-2-ylmethylene)-9H-xanthene-4,5-diamine were prepared, characterized and used to ligate two equivalents of a dimethylplatinum(II) center. Diplatinum complexes of both ligands were shown to easily undergo oxidative addition to give the corresponding diplatinum(IV) complexes which adopt the anti orientation. The syn alignment of metal centers was accessible through the abstraction of halides ligands and incorporation of bridging groups as is the case for the pyrazine bridged bimetallic platinum complex [Pt2Me6(C4H4N2)(pmxda)][OSO2CF3]2

NURSING CAREER STRESS PREVENTION BY BACCALAUREATE NURSING EDUCATION: FACULTY VIEWS

Nursing career stress (NCS) will continue to gain prominence as impacts of the nursing shortage worsen. Measures targeting NCS are well researched, although predominately focus on the existing workforce and/or workplaces. Little exploration has occurred about preventing nurses’ stress prior to workforce entry. Baccalaureate nursing education (NE) has unparalleled access to, and influence with, nursing students (NS). It is thus proposed that explicitly preparing NSs for realities of nursing practice and work life can prevent exposures to NCS, ameliorate responses to it, and prevent its negative outcomes. Stress prevention/management has previously been incorporated into baccalaureate curricula; however, in all cases except one, NSs, stress was the sole focus. The potential role ofNE in preventing its graduates’ future NCS has yet to be explored. This descriptive study was part of a larger study about NCS prevention (NCSP). The specific purpose of this study was to begin exploring NE’s potential participation in NCSP, by garnering views of baccalaureate nursing faculty about NCS, and NE’s past, present, and potential roles, opportunities, barriers, and responsibilities in NCSP. The study was theoretically framed on a researcher-developed model that demarcated potential modalities for NE-driven NCSP. Using a researcher-developed instrument, 215 faculty teaching in baccalaureate nursing programs in Ontario were surveyed. Nursing education was not perceived by faculty as significantly impacting NCS; however, NE was perceived to share responsibility for, and be capable of doing so; therefore, can and should explicitly expand its role in NCSP, focusing on that specific to stressors and responses to them. Several barriers to NE’s role expansion were noted, including: a lack of understanding of NE’s current role and what an expanded role could be; a knowledge deficit among nurse educators about the subject; a lack of room in current curricula; a shortage of faculty; and faculty’s heavy workloads and time constraints. Current curricula, especially the clinical portions, were seen as ineffectively impacting graduates’ NCS and/or negatively contributing to it, and warranting critical assessment and radical revision. There are no simple solutions for NCS or the nursing shortage. However, this research gives impetus for further study of NE’s potential involvement in NCSP, and provides initial direction for NE to expand its involvement in NCSP through explicitly incorporating NCS and NCSP content and processes into the baccalaureate curriculum

Some Effects of Stator Cone Angle and Blade-tip Leakage on 40 Percent Reaction Turbine Having Rotor-blade Caps

An investigation of the effects of stator cone angle and tip leakage on turbine performance

(OC-6-35)-(2,2′-Bipyridine-κ2 N,N′)dimeth­yl(3-sulfido­propionato-κ2 S,O)platinum(IV)

The title complex, [Pt(CH3)2(SCH2CH2CO2)(C10H8N2)], is formed by the unusual oxidative addition of the disulfide, R 2S2 (R = CH2CH2CO2H), to (2,2′-bipyridine)­dimethyl­platin­um(II) with elimination of RSH. The product contains an unusual six-membered thiol­ate–carboxyl­ate chelate ring. This slightly distorted octa­hedral complex exhibits cis angles ranging from 77.55 (11) to 97.30 (8)° due to the presence of the thiol­ate–carboxyl­ate chelate ring and the constrained bipyridine group. The crystal packing appears to be controlled by a combination of π-stacking [centroid–centroid distance = 3.611 (2) Å] and C—H⋯O inter­actions

Experimental and Modeling Improvements to a Co-Fluid Cycle Utilizing Ionic Liquids and Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide is undergoing a renaissance as an alternative to synthetic refrigerants due to its environmental advantages in addition to a high density and excellent transport properties. A weakness of carbon dioxide is having a critical point which occurs at a lower temperature and higher pressure than most other fluids used as refrigerants. This combination leads to high operating pressures, especially on the heat rejection side of the thermodynamic cycle. Ionic liquids, which are salts which remain in their liquid phase at room temperatures, have been shown to strongly absorb carbon dioxide. Due to recent advances in ionic liquids, the cation and anion groups are able to be formulated to tailor a variety of fluid properties including liquid-vapor equilibrium characteristics. By selecting appropriate ionic liquids, it is possible to reduce the operating pressure of an air-conditioning system utilizing carbon dioxide to be in the range of conventional refrigerants. Not only are ionic liquids able to physically absorb volatile refrigerants as in other co-fluid cycles, but ionic liquids also offer the possibility of chemical absorption thereby giving the opportunity for greater enthalpy changes. Conceptually, the ionic co-fluid cycle is similar to a traditional vapor compression cycle. In the high pressure heat exchanger, heat is rejected to lower the enthalpy and to absorb carbon dioxide into the ionic liquid. The enthalpy is further reduced in an internal heat exchanger before the high pressure liquid is passed through a valve to decrease the pressure which causes the fluid mixture to cool. Heat is absorbed by the mixture from the environment, thus boiling additional carbon dioxide. After passing through an internal heat exchanger, the fluid is mechanically compressed and the cycle is repeated. System modeling work was utilized to identify important thermodynamic characteristics for achieving good performance. These characteristics included heats of mixing, solubility, entropy of mixing, and viscosity. Using experimentally and numerically determined IL-CO2 mixture properties, system models were able to predicatively select anion and cation pairs for optimizing performance. The ionic liquids selected from the modeling exercises were subsequently synthesized for demonstration in a laboratory. An air conditioning system was built from components designed for use with conventional refrigerants. The system was installed in a facility which was instrumented to measure air and refrigerant pressures and temperatures. Air flow rate and temperature information allowed the cooling capacity to be measured. The power consumption of the pump and compressor used to circulate the working fluids was measured so that COP could be determined. Modeling results were validated with experimental findings. The emphasis of modeling and experiments was to determine the effect of operational parameters on system performance. The loading of ionic liquid and carbon dioxide, along with valve opening and compressor speed, was found to dramatically alter the operating pressures. The difference and ratio between high and low side pressures directly affected the specific cooling capacity and COP, respectively. While the model had strong agreement with the experimental results, non-idealities to be incorporated in more sophisticated models are identified

An Impermeant Ganetespib Analog Inhibits Extracellular Hsp90-Mediated Cancer Cell Migration that Involves Lysyl Oxidase 2-like Protein

Extracellular Hsp90 (eHsp90) activates a number of client proteins outside of cancer cells required for migration and invasion. Therefore, eHsp90 may serve as a novel target for anti-metastatic drugs as its inhibition using impermeant Hsp90 inhibitors would not affect the numerous vital intracellular Hsp90 functions in normal cells. While some eHsp90 clients are known, it is important to establish other proteins that act outside the cell to validate eHsp90 as a drug target to limit cancer spread. Using mass spectrometry we identified two precursor proteins Galectin 3 binding protein (G3BP) and Lysyl oxidase 2-like protein (LOXL2) that associate with eHsp90 in MDA-MB231 breast cancer cell conditioned media and confirmed that LOXL2 binds to eHsp90 in immunoprecipitates. We introduce a novel impermeant Hsp90 inhibitor STA-12-7191 derived from ganetespib and show that it is markedly less toxic to cells and can inhibit cancer cell migration in a dose dependent manner. We used STA-12-7191 to test if LOXL2 and G3BP are potential eHsp90 clients. We showed that while LOXL2 can increase wound healing and compensate for STA-12-7191-mediated inhibition of wound closure, addition of G3BP had no affect on this assay. These findings support of role for LOXL2 in eHsp90 stimulated cancer cell migration and provide preliminary evidence for the use of STA-12-7191 to inhibit eHsp90 to limit cancer invasion

The rad18 Gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe Defines a New Subgroup of the SMC Superfamily Involved in DNA Repair

The rad18 mutant of Schizosaccharomyces pombe is very sensitive to killing by both UV and ¿ radiation. We have cloned and sequenced the rad18 gene and isolated and sequenced its homolog from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, designated RHC18. The predicted Rad18 protein has all the structural properties characteristic of the SMC family of proteins, suggesting a motor function- the first implicated in DNA repair. Gene deletion shows that both rad18 and RHC18 are essential for proliferation. Genetic and biochemical analyses suggest that the product of the rad18 gene acts in a DNA repair pathway for removal of UV-induced DNA damage that is distinct from classical nucleotide excision repair. This second repair pathway involves the products of the rhp51 gene (the homolog of the RAD51 gene of S. cerevisiae) and the rad2 gene

Early childhood wheezing phenotypes and determinants in a South African birth cohort: longitudinal analysis of the Drakenstein Child Health Study

BACKGROUND: Developmental trajectories of childhood wheezing in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) have not been well described. We aimed to derive longitudinal wheeze phenotypes from birth to 5 years in a South African birth cohort and compare those with phenotypes derived from a UK cohort. METHODS: We used data from the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS), a longitudinal birth cohort study in a peri-urban area outside Cape Town, South Africa. Pregnant women (aged ≥18 years) were enrolled during their second trimester at two public health clinics. We followed up children from birth to 5 years to derive six multidimensional indicators of wheezing (including duration, temporal sequencing, persistence, and recurrence) and applied Partition Around Medoids clustering to derive wheeze phenotypes. We compared phenotypes with a UK cohort (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children [ALSPAC]). We investigated associations of phenotypes with early-life exposures, including all-cause lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) and virus-specific LRTI (respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, adenovirus, influenza, and parainfluenza virus) up to age 5 years. We investigated the association of phenotypes with lung function at 6 weeks and 5 years. FINDINGS: Between March 5, 2012, and March 31, 2015, we enrolled 1137 mothers and there were 1143 livebirths. Four wheeze phenotypes were identified among 950 children with complete data: never (480 children [50%]), early transient (215 children [23%]), late onset (104 children [11%]), and recurrent (151 children [16%]). Multivariate adjusted analysis indicated that LRTI and respiratory syncytial virus-LRTI, but not other respiratory viruses, were associated with increased risk of recurrent wheeze (odds ratio [OR] 2·79 [95% CI 2·05-3·81] for all LTRIs; OR 2·59 [1·30-5·15] for respiratory syncytial virus-LRTIs). Maternal smoking (1·88 [1·12-3·02]), higher socioeconomic status (2·46 [1·23-4·91]), intimate partner violence (2·01 [1·23-3·29]), and male sex (2·47 [1·50-4·04]) were also associated with recurrent wheeze. LRTI and respiratory syncytial virus-LRTI were also associated with early transient and late onset clusters. Wheezing illness architecture differed between DCHS and ALSPAC; children included in ALSPAC in the early transient cluster wheezed for a longer period before remission and late-onset wheezing started at an older age, and no persistent phenotype was identified in DCHS. At 5 years, airway resistance was higher in children with early or recurrent wheeze compared with children who had never wheezed. Airway resistance increased from 6 weeks to 5 years among children with recurrent wheeze. INTERPRETATION: Effective strategies to reduce maternal smoking and psychosocial stressors and new preventive interventions for respiratory syncytial virus are urgently needed to optimise child health in LMICs. FUNDING: UK Medical Research Council; The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; National Institutes of Health Human Heredity and Health in Africa; South African Medical Research Council; Wellcome Trust