Determination of glyoxal and methylglyoxal in the serum of diabetic patients by MEKC using stilbenediamine as derivatizing reagent

An analytical method has been developed for the separation of glyoxal (Go), methylglyoxal (MGo), and dimethylglyoxal (DMGo) by MEKC using stilbenediamine (SD) as derivatizing reagent, separation time 6.5 min, SDS as micellar medium at pH 8, and sodium tetraborate (0.1 M) as buffer. Uncoated fused-silica capillary, effective length 50 cm x 75 microm id; applied voltage 20 kV and photodiode array detection, were used. Calibration was linear within 0.02-150 microg/mL with detection limits 3.5-5.8 ng/mL. Go and MGo, observed for diabetic and healthy volunteers, were within 0.098-0.193 microg/mL Go and 0.106-0.245 microg/mL MGo with RSD 1.6-3.5 and 1.7-3.4%, respectively, in diabetics against 0.016-0.046 microg/mL Go and 0.021-0.066 microg/mL MGo with RSDs 1.5-3.5 and 1.4-3.6%, respectively, in healthy volunteers. Go and MGo in diabetics were also measured by standard addition and DMGo as an internal standard. Additives do not contribute significantly to Go and MGo matrix.     

Enhanced grain growth and improved optical properties of the Sn doped thin films of Sb2S3 orthorhombic phase

The applications of newer Sb₂S₃ material as a suitable absorber material for the solar cells have been effected by the toxicity of Sb. The present study is an effort to synthesize lower Sb contents Sn doped Sb₂S₃ materials by retaining or improving the morphological and optical properties. SnCl₂ and SbCl₃ are used respectively as Sn and Sb sources, while Na₂S₂O₃ has been used as a source of S in chemical bath deposition method. Bath temperature was maintained at 10 °C and the deposition time was 4 h and the annealing of the films in vacuum was done for 2 h at 250 °C. X-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and ultraviolet/visible light spectroscopy have been used for the study of structural, morphological and the optical properties. The chemical composition determined from RBS is Sn_0.11Sb₂S₃. Phase analysis confirms the orthorhombic Sb₂S₃ phase with b and c axis as the preferred ones for the impurity Sn atoms. Grain growth at lower deposition temperature is enhanced on the account of doping. Nanosized spherical particles are seen in the optical micrographs. Annealing lowers the band gap, the values being 1.50 and 1.31 eV for the unannealed and the annealed samples respectively.     

Canarene: a triterpenoid with a unique carbon skeleton from Canarium schweinfurthii

Canarene (1), a triterpene with an unprecedented carbon backbone, was isolated from Canarium schweinfurthii . It is the first member of a new class of triterpenoids, for which the name "canarane' is proposed. 1 showed weak α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, and its structure was unambiguously deduced by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.     

Study of cosurfactant effect on nanoemulsifying area and development of lercanidipine loaded (SNEDDS) self nanoemulsifying drug delivery system

The present study deals with the development and characterization of self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) to improve the oral bioavailability of poorly soluble third generation calcium channel blocker lercanidipine (LER). Solubility of the LER was estimated in various oils, cosurfactants and surfactants which were grouped into two different combinations to construct pseudoternary phase diagrams. Various thermodynamic stability and dispersibility tests were performed on the formulations from phase diagram. After constructing phase diagram of two different combinations NL-I and NL-II, the effect of cosurfactants on the nanoemulsifying area was studied and the effect of number and length of hydrophobic alkyl chains of cosurfactant in its emulsification capacity was proved. Percentage transmittance, emulsification time, viscosity and droplet size analysis were used to characterize optimized formulations. The optimized formulation composed of Cremophor EL (45% wt/wt), (13.5% wt/wt) Caproyl 90 with (1.5% wt/wt) Transcutol® HP as per limits of inactive ingredients guidelines of FDA and Maisine oil (10% wt/wt). The mean droplet size in selected nanocarrier system was 20.01 nm. The in vitro dissolution profile of LER SNEDDS was found significant in comparison to the marketed LER (Zanidip) tablet and pure drug in pH 1.2, 4.5 and 6.8 buffers. Empty hard gelatin capsule shells were filled using Pfizer's Licap technology and charged on stability conditions of 30 °C/65% RH, 40 °C/65%RH and 50 °C/75% in glass bottles where no significant degradation (p > 0.05) was observed in 3 months. The results indicate that SNEDDS of LER, owing to nanosized, has potential to enhance the absorption of drug.     

Vitamin C derivatives as new coreactants for tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) electrochemiluminescence

Vitamin C derivatives (VCDs) have been widely used as the alternative and stable sources of vitamin C, and accordingly exhibit many new applications, such as anti-tumor and central nervous system drug delivery. In this study, their Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ electrochemiluminescence (ECL) properties have been investigated for the first time using well-known ascorbyl phosphate and ascorbyl palmitate as representative VCDs. Ascorbyl phosphate and ascorbyl palmitate are VCDs with different substituted positions. Both of them increase Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ ECL, indicating that other VCDs may also enhance Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ ECL signal. The calibration plot for ascorbyl phosphate is linear from 3 × 10⁻⁶ to 1.0 × 10⁻³ M with a detection limit of 1.4 × 10⁻⁶ M at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The relative standard deviation is 3.6% for six replicate measurements of 0.01 mM ascorbyl 2-phosphate solution. The proposed method is about one order of magnitude more sensitive than electrochemical and UV–vis methods for the determination of ascorbyl phosphate, and is used successfully for the determination of ascorbyl phosphate in whitening and moisturising body wash.     

Dynamics of shearing in flocculating fine sediment suspensions

The variability of rheological properties in cohesive sediment suspensions are studied and related to the flocculation process. It was found that the steady state shear stress increases exponentially with increasing sediment concentration and increases logarithmically by increasing the salinity of the suspension. The salinity dependence of the shear stress was correlated with changes in the floc-size. These results reflect the dominant influence of fluid-sediment interactions on the flocculation behavior of the suspension. An analytic model predicting shear stress as a function of the physical and electrochemical properties of the fine sediment suspension is developed.     

Synthesis,Characterization, Biological Evaluation and DNA Interaction Studies of 4-Aminophenol Derivatives: Theoretical and Experimental Approach

In the present study, five 4-aminophenol derivatives (4-chloro-2-(((4-hydroxyphenyl)imino)methyl)phenol(S-1), 4-((4-(dimethylamino)benzylidene)amino)phenol(S-2), 4-((3-nitrobenzylidene)amino)phenol(S-3), 4-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene)amino)phenol(S-4) and 4-(((E)-3-phenylallylidene)amino)phenol(S-5)) were synthesized and characterized by FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR and elemental analyses. The synthesized compounds were tested for their antimicrobial (Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and Saccharomyces cervesea fungus) and antidiabetic (α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory) activities. All the compounds showed broad-spectrum activities against the Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538), Micrococcus luteus (ATCC 4698), Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 12228), Bacillus subtilis sub. sp spizizenii (ATCC 6633), Bordetella bronchiseptica (ATCC 4617) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ATCC 9763) strains. The newly synthesized compounds showed a significant inhibition of amylase (93.2%) and glucosidase (73.7%) in a concentration-dependent manner. Interaction studies of Human DNA with the synthesized Schiff bases were also performed. The spectral bands of S-1, S-2, S-3 and S-5 all showed hyperchromism, whereas the spectral band of S-4 showed a hypochromic effect. Moreover, the spectral bands of the S-2, S-3 and S-4 compounds were also found to exhibit a bathochromic shift (red shift). The present studies delineate broad-spectrum antimicrobial and antidiabetic activities of the synthesized compounds. Additionally, DNA interaction studies highlight the potential of synthetic compounds as anticancer agents. The DNA interaction studies, as well as the antidiabetic activities articulated by the molecular docking methods, showed the promising aspects of synthetic compounds.     

Complexation behavior of gelatin with amphiphilic drug imipramine hydrochloride as studied by conductimetry,surface tensiometry and circular dichroism studies

Herein we report our studies carried out on the interaction between IMP and gelatin in aqueous medium at 25 °C using conductimetry, surface tensiometry and circular dichroism (CD) techniques. Both surface tensiometry and conductimetry results indicate that the drug interacts with the gelatin in a surfactant-like manner, i.e., both critical aggregation (cac) and polymer saturation points (psp) were observed. The interaction starts with the formation of a highly surface-active complex as revealed by the lowering of surface tension on the addition of drug to the macromolecule. The decrease in cac on increasing gelatin concentration is an indication of the strong interaction between gelatin and IMP. However, at low concentration of gelatin the interaction was not much strong as exposed by surface tension study, i.e., the cac was not very clear (as with higher gelatin concentrations). As usual, the psp increased on increasing the gelatin concentration and was always higher than the critical micelle concentration of the drug in pure aqueous medium. Using CD measurements the influence of IMP on the secondary structure of gelatin in aqueous solutions was also investigated. CD studies (performed at very low drug concentrations) illustrated that the random coil content of gelatin increases with increasing drug concentration. Free energies of aggregation (ΔG_agg) and micellization (ΔG_mic) were computed with the help of degrees of micelle ionization obtained from the specific conductivity – [IMP] plots.