Student Researchers' Society Topics

Student Researchers' Society Topics

Synthesis and biological studies of spin labelled Biomolecules (aminoacids, drugs, phospholipides).

Co-supervisor: Prof. Dr. KÁLAI, Tamás

Weak interactions between molecules are known to be affected by the struture of the solvents through the variation of the entropy term during the formation reactions. The formation of structures by polar solvent molecules mainly determined by Coulomb-interactions which however highly affected by the ions present in the solutions. Importance of this process differs also in cases when the Zearalenone mycotoxin binds either to HSA or encapsulated into the cavity of cyclodextrins. Relationship between these two competitive processes is key to improve the efficiency of the cyclodextrin-assisted removal the toxins from the HSA surface.

Solubilities of bioactive molecules possessing aromatic moieties can be controlled by their encapsulation with cavity-shaped larger macrocycles. One fascinating family of such macrocycles is the cavitands which molecules can be solubilized in aqueous solutions by carboxyl functionatities. Weak Pearson acidity of transition metals improves the interaction between aromatics through formation of cation – pi bonds, however presence of block s cations in living bodies affects the strength of this bonds and therefore the weak interactions between the aromatics.

Nanomaterials, such us nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanorods, nanofibers and nanoribbons, have attracted much attention especially in the past few years due to their potential applicability in medicine and biology. The overall dimension of these materials is in nanoscale, usually at least one dimension under 1000 nm. However, there are some wonderful size-dependent properties of these nanomaterials that are already known, the real wide application still seems to be a big challenge and needs further investigations. The aim of this work to study the ability of several nanomaterials (e.g. carbon nanotubes or gold nanoparticles and nanorods) to sense and to delivery different bioactive molecules (e.g. antibiotics) in different solutions. The molecular interaction, encapsulation and transport properties of these nanomaterials can be described by spectroscopic and electrochemical methods or by molecular modelling studies.

Bioactive chemical compounds derived from natural sources have increased interest and great attention because they are potential alternatives to synthetic chemicals. Medical plants have been used in folk medicine for centuries. However, the antibacterial, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory effects of bioactive chemical compounds extracted from herbs and spices have been validated, but their physiological function including their interactions with cells and proteins have not been described yet. In the present work the binding of essential oil compounds to plasma proteins will be investigated by spectroscopic, chromatographic, and electrochemical methods. The analyzed binding properties play an important role in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics behaviors of the essential oils and contribute to get more detailed knowledge about the complex natures of the examined interactions.