Quality control assessment of polyherbal formulation based on a quantitative determination multimarker approach by ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry using polarity switching combined with multivariate analysis

An ultra high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of 28 major bioactive compounds in Mentat tablet, a complex Indian herbal medicine used in the treatment of neurological disorder and improvement of mental health. Multiple‐reaction monitoring scanning was employed for quantification in positive and negative ion switching mode. The analysis was accomplished on Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C₁₈ column with linear gradient elution of water/formic acid (0.1%) and acetonitrile/formic acid (0.1%) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The proposed method was validated with acceptable linearity (r², 0.9984–0.9999), precision (RSD, 0.22–2.11%), stability (RSD, 0.16–1.78%), and recovery (RSD ≤ 3.74%), under optimum conditions. The limits of quantitation ranged from 0.28 to 3.88 ng/mL. The method was successfully applied for simultaneous determination of 28 compounds in 20 batches of Mentat tablet. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were performed to evaluate the similarity and variation of the 20 samples based on the characteristics of 28 bioactive compounds. Results indicated that this method is rapid, sensitive, and reliable to show the quality of the Mentat tablet's composition, hence may be used for quality control of polyherbal formulations having similar markers/raw herbs.     

A validated HPTLC method for determination of trans-caryophyllene from polyherbal formulations

Formulations of traditional medicines are usually made up of a complex mixture of herbs. However, effective quality control methods in order to select materials of the right quality are lacking. 'Amukkara choornam' is a polyherbal Siddha formulation used for gastritis, spleen enlargement, leucorrhoea, hiccups, anaemia, tuberculosis and kappa diseases. Trans-caryophyllene is an important constituent present in the ingredients of this formulation. In a literature survey, it was found that there is no such method for the quantification of trans-caryophyllene except gas chromatography or gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). So, a high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method was developed and validated for the quantification of trans-caryophyllene in amukkara choornam. Pre-coated silica gel 60F-254 plates (10 × 10 cm2) were used for the analysis. The solvent system consisted of toluene-ethyl acetatate (9 : 3, v/v), and trans-caryophyllene was detected at 260 nm. The developed method was validated for linearity (R2 = 0.9996 ± 0.0034), limit of detection (LOD) (0.101 ng), limit of quantification (LOQ) (0.639 ng), accuracy (% recovery = 97.19 ± 1.204), and precision (CV < 5%, for both intra-day and inter-day precisions). The levels of trans-caryophyllene were found to be 3.5-4.10 μg per gram of herbal products.     

The Nature of Activated Non‐classical Hydrogen Bonds: A Case Study on Acetylcholinesterase–Ligand Complexes

Molecular recognition events in biological systems are driven by non‐covalent interactions between interacting species. Here, we have studied hydrogen bonds of the CH???Y type involving electron‐deficient CH donors using dispersion‐corrected density functional theory (DFT) calculations applied to acetylcholinesterase–ligand complexes. The strengths of CH???Y interactions activated by a proximal cation were considerably strong; comparable to or greater than those of classical hydrogen bonds. Significant differences in the energetic components compared to classical hydrogen bonds and non‐activated CH???Y interactions were observed. Comparison between DFT and molecular mechanics calculations showed that common force fields could not reproduce the interaction energy values of the studied hydrogen bonds. The presented results highlight the importance of considering CH???Y interactions when analysing protein–ligand complexes, call for a review of current force fields, and opens up possibilities for the development of improved design tools for drug discovery.     

Strategy to Construct Stair‐Shaped Partially Reduced Naphtho[1,2‐b]pyrano[2,3‐d]oxepines and Dinaphtho[1,2‐b,d]oxepines

A concise and efficient base‐induced synthesis of stair‐shaped, 4‐methylthio‐2‐oxo‐5,6‐dihydro‐2H‐naphtho[1,2‐b]pyran[2,3‐d]oxepine‐3‐carbonitriles ( 3 ) has been delineated by the reaction of 3,4‐dihydronaphtho[1,2‐b]oxepin‐5(2H)‐one ( 1 ) and methyl 2‐cyano‐3,3‐dimethylthioacrylate in DMSO using powdered KOH as a base at room temperature. Amination of 3 has been achieved by reaction with secondary amine in ethanol at reflux temperature to yield 4‐sec‐amino‐2‐oxo‐5,6‐dihydro‐2H‐naphtho[1,2‐b]pyran[2,3‐d]oxepine‐3‐carbonitriles ( 4 ). Reaction of 3 with aryl methyl ketone ( 5 ) in DMSO at room temperature using powdered KOH as a base produced stair‐shaped 5‐aryl‐7,8‐dihydro‐1,4‐dioxa‐2,3‐dioxodinaphtho[1,2‐b,d]oxepine ( 6 ) in good yields. However, reaction of 6‐aryl‐2H‐pyran‐2‐one‐3‐carbonitrile ( 8 ) with 3,4‐dihydronaphtho[1,2‐b]oxepin‐5(2H)‐one ( 1 ) did not give similar product, but in lieu 4‐aryl‐5,6‐dihydronaphtho[1,2‐b]oxepino[4,5‐b]pyran‐2‐ylidene)acetonitrile ( 9 ) was isolated and characterized.     

Genotoxic and Cytotoxic Properties of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Phyto-Fabricated from the Obscure Morning Glory Plant Ipomoea obscura (L.) Ker Gawl

The study was undertaken to investigate the antioxidant, genotoxic, and cytotoxic potentialities of phyto-fabricated zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) from Ipomoea obscura (L.) Ker Gawl. aqueous leaf extract. The UV-visible spectral analysis of the ZnO-NPs showed an absorption peak at 304 nm with a bandgap energy of 3.54 eV, which are characteristics of zinc nanoparticles. Moreover, the particles were of nano-size (~24.26 nm) with 88.11% purity and were agglomerated as observed through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The phyto-fabricated ZnO-NPs offered radical scavenging activity (RSA) in a dose-dependent manner with an IC₅₀ of 0.45 mg mL⁻¹. In addition, the genotoxicity studies of ZnO-NPs carried out on onion root tips revealed that the particles were able to significantly inhibit the cell division at the mitotic stage with a mitotic index of 39.49%. Further, the cytotoxic studies on HT-29 cells showed that the phyto-fabricated ZnO-NPs could arrest the cell division as early as in the G0/G1 phase (with 92.14%) with 73.14% cells showing early apoptotic symptoms after 24 h of incubation. The results of the study affirm the ability of phyto-fabricated ZnO-NPs from aqueous leaf extract of I. obscura is beneficial in the cytotoxic application.     

Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) Nanocomposites: Effect of Inorganic Nanoparticles Reinforcement on Its Performance and Food Packaging Applications

Poly lactic acid (PLA) is a compostable, as well as recyclable, sustainable, versatile and environmentally friendly alternative, because the monomer of PLA-lactide (LA) is extracted from natural sources. PLA’s techno-functional properties are fairly similar to fossil-based polymers; however, in pristine state, its brittleness and delicacy during processing pose challenges to its potential exploitation in diverse food packaging applications. PLA is, therefore, re-engineered to improve its thermal, rheological, barrier and mechanical properties through nanoparticle (NP) reinforcement. This review summarises the studies on PLA-based nanocomposites (PLA NCs) developed by reinforcing inorganic metal/metallic oxide, graphite and silica-based nanoparticles (NPs) that exhibit remarkable improvement in terms of storage modulus, tensile strength, crystallinity, glass transition temperature (Tg) value, antimicrobial property and a decrease in water vapour and oxygen permeability when compared with the pristine PLA films. This review has also discussed the regulations around the use of metal oxide-based NPs in food packaging, PLA NC biodegradability and their applications in food systems. The industrial acceptance of NCs shows highly promising perspectives for the replacement of traditional petrochemical-based polymers currently being used for food packaging.     

Natural (−)‐Vasicine as a Novel Source of Optically Pure 1‐Benzylpyrrolidin‐3‐ol

A facile and scalable methodology for the preparation of optically active (3S)‐1‐benzylpyrrolidin‐3‐ol ( 3 ), an important drug precursor, is reported. Starting from the naturally occurring alkaloid (?)‐vasicine ( 1 ), a major alkaloid of the plant Adhatoda vasica, 3 was obtained in 84% overall yield (Scheme 3).     

Pi-pi interaction in pyridine

pi-pi Interaction in pyridine dimer and trimer has been investigated in different geometries and orientations at the ab initio (HF, MP2) and DFT (B3LYP) levels of theory using various basis sets (6-31G, 6-31G, 6-311++G) and corrected for basis set superposition error (BSSE). While the HF and DFT calculations show the pyridine dimer and the trimer to be unstable with respect to the monomer, the MP2 calculations show them to be clearly stable, thus emphasizing the need to include electron correlation while determining stacking interaction in such systems. The calculated MP2/6-311++G binding energy (100% BSSE corrected) of the parallel-sandwich, antiparallel-sandwich, parallel-displaced, antiparallel-displaced, T-up and T-down geometries for pyridine dimer are 1.53, 3.05, 2.39, 3.97, 1.91, 1.47 kcal/mol, respectively. The results show the antiparallel-displaced geometry to be the most stable. The binding energies for the trimer in parallel-sandwich, antiparallel-sandwich, and antiparallel-displaced geometry are found to be 3.18, 6.14, and 8.04 kcal/mol, respectively.