Identifier

etd-04142011-135915

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Chemistry

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the United States. It is therefore imperative that a lot of effort be put into finding a cure for this dreadful disease that shows no discrimination, and virtually anybody is at risk of developing the disease. Chapter 1 introduces basic facts about cancer and the available treatments, including PDT and BNCT. Our focus will be on these two bimodal therapies, which form the basis of my research work, which involves the synthesis of potential sensitizers to be used either in PDT or BNCT or both. In Chapter 2, I discuss the synthesis of thienyl- appended porphyrins, which have been found to absorb at longer wavelengths. This is favorable for PDT applications. In addition to this I introduce carborane cages to the porphyrin system to obtain compounds that have high 10B concentrations and therefore potential boron delivery agents in BNCT. In this chapter I will also discuss the photophysical and biological studies of the porphyrins that I have synthesized. Chapter 3 reports the synthesis of various carborane substituted oligothiophenes. Using a base, the closo carboranes are converted to the open nido cages. Insertion of different metals into these cages results in the synthesis of sandwich-type metalla-bis(dicarbollide) compounds, which are further electropolymerized to give the corresponding polymers. Both photophysical and biological studies of the oligothiophenes are carried out to establish their potential as 10B delivery agents in BNCT. Finally, in chapter 4, I discuss the synthesis of new disubstituted tetrabenzoporphyrins (TBPs). In order to increase selectivity of the compounds towards tumor cells, we conjugate the compounds to the polyamine, spermine, to the macrocycle.

Date

2011

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Vicente, M. Graca H.

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.2761

Included in

Chemistry Commons

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