Validated liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for simultaneous quantitation of bendamustine and copanlisib in mouse plasma: Application to a pharmacokinetic study in mice

In this study, we report the development and validation of an LC–tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous quantitation of bendamustine and copanlisib in mouse plasma as per the US FDA regulatory guidelines. The sample processing involves extraction of bendamustine and copanlisib along with internal standard (IS; warfarin) from 50 μL mouse plasma using a liquid–liquid extraction method. The chromatographic separation of bendamustine, copanlisib and the IS was achieved on an Atlantis dC₁₈ column using an isocratic mobile phase (5 mM ammonium acetate:methanol, 20:80 v/v). Bendamustine, copanlisib and the IS eluted at 0.88, 1.39 and 0.74 min, respectively, with a total run time of 2.5 min. The calibration curve ranged from 3.99–2996 and 4.33–3248 ng/mL for bendamustine and copanlisib, respectively. Inter- and intra-day precision and accuracy, stability in processed samples and upon storage, dilution integrity and incurred sample reanalysis were investigated for both the analytes. The intra- and inter-day precisions were in the ranges of 2.01%–5.05% and 2.74%–6.13% and 1.98%–7.64 and 8.62%–9.04% for bendamustine and copanlisib, respectively. Stability studies showed that both analytes were stable on bench top for 6 h, in auto-sampler for 24 and at −80°C for 30 days. The validated method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in mice.     

Development,validation and application of a UHPLC–MS/MS method for quantification of the adiponectin-derived active peptide ADP355 in rat plasma

A UHPLC–MS/MS method for the quantification of ADP355, an adiponectin-derived active peptide, was developed and validated. The extraction method employed simple protein precipitation using methanol and chromatographic separation was achieved on anAccucore™ RP-MS C₁₈ column (100 × 2.1 mm, 2.6 μm, 80 Å), using 0.1% formic acid in both water and acetonitrile with gradient elution at the flow rate of 400 μl/min within 4.0 min. Detections were performed under positive ion mode with multiple reaction monitoring ion transitions m/z 1109.2 → 309.8 and 871.4 → 310.1 for ADP355 and Jt003 respectively at unit resolution. The linearity range of the calibration curve was 2–1,000 ng/ml with a lower limit detection of 0.5 ng/ml. The selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy, recovery, matrix effect and stability were validated, and all items met the requirement of US Food and Drug Administration guidance. This method was successfully applied to an intravenous pharmacokinetic study of ADP355 in rats and the in-vitro stability in rat serum, plasma and whole blood was also assessed.     

New Palladium – ZrO2 Nano-Architectures from Thermal Transformation of UiO-66-NH2 for Carbonylative Suzuki and Hydrogenation Reactions

The new nanocomposites, Pd/C/ZrO₂, PdO/ZrO_2, and Pd/PdO/ZrO₂, were prepared by thermal conversion of Pd@UiO-66-Zr−NH₂ (MOF) in nitrogen or air atmosphere. The presence of Pd nanoparticles, uniformly distributed on the ZrO₂ or C/ZrO₂ matrix, was evidenced by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) methods. All pyrolysed composites retained the shape of the MOF template. They catalyze carbonylative Suzuki coupling under 1 atm CO with an efficiency significantly higher than the original Pd@UiO-66-Zr−NH₂. The most active PdO/ZrO₂ composite, formed benzophenone with TOF up to 1600 h⁻¹, while by using Pd@UiO-66-Zr−NH₂, much lower TOF values, 51–95 h⁻¹, were achieved. After the reaction, PdO/ZrO₂ was recovered with the same composition and catalytic activity. Very good results were also obtained in the transfer hydrogenation of benzophenones to alcohols with Pd/C/ZrO₂ and PdO/ZrO₂ catalysts under microwave irradiation.     

Biohybrid Organic Heterostructure Based on Chlorophyll-Bacteriochlorophyll Aggregates for Ecofriendly Hydrogen Production

Hydrogen energy is an abundant, clean, sustainable and environmentally friendly renewable energy source. Therefore, the production of hydrogen by photocatalytically splitting water on semiconductors has been considered in recent years as a promising and sustainable strategy for converting solar energy into chemical energy to replace conventional energy sources and to solve the growing problem of environmental pollution and the global energy crisis. However, highly efficient solar-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production remains a huge challenge due to the poor visible light response of available photocatalytic materials and the low efficiency of separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In the present work, organic heterojunction structures based on bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) and chlorophyll (Chl) molecules were introduced and used for solar-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production from water under visible light. Also, noble metal-free photocatalyst was successfully constructed on Ti₃C₂T_x nanosheets by simple successive deposition of Chl and BChl, which was used for the photocatalytic splitting water to hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The results show that the optimal BChl@Chl@Ti₃C₂T_x composite has a high HER performance with 114 μmol/h/g_cat, which is much higher than the BChl@Ti₃C₂T_x and Chl@Ti₃C₂T_x composites.     

Establishment and validation of an SIL-IS LC–MS/MS method for the determination of ibuprofen in human plasma and its pharmacokinetic study

In this work, we developed and validated a highly sensitive, rapid and stable LC–MS/MS method for the determination of ibuprofen in human plasma with ibuprofen-d3 as a stable isotopically labeled internal standard (SIL-IS). Human plasma samples were prepared by one-step protein precipitation. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Poroshell 120 EC-C₁₈ (2.1 × 50 mm, 2.7 μm). Aqueous solution (containing 0.05% acetic acid and 5 mm NH₄Ac) and methanol were selected as the mobile phase with gradient elution. An electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in negative ion mode. Multiple reaction monitoring mode was used for quantification using target fragment ions m/z 205.0 → 161.1 for ibuprofen and m/z 208.0 → 164.0 for SIL-IS, respectively. This method exhibited a linear range of 0.05–36 μg/ml for ibuprofen with correlation coefficient >0.99. Mean recoveries of ibuprofen in human plasma ranged from 78.4 to 80.9%. The RSD of intra- and inter-day precision were both < 5%. The accuracy was between 88.2 and 103.67%. The matrix effect was negligible in human plasma, including lipidemia and hemolytic plasma. A simple, efficient and accurate LC–MS/MS method was successfully established and applied to a pharmacokinetic study in healthy Chinese volunteers after a single oral administration of ibuprofen granules.     

Temperature Effects on the Fracture Dynamics and Elastic Properties of Popgraphene Membranes

Popgraphene (PopG) is a new 2D planar carbon allotrope which is composed of 5–8–5 carbon rings. PopG is intrinsically metallic and possesses excellent thermal and mechanical stability. In this work, we report a detailed study of the thermal effects on the mechanical properties of PopG membranes using fully-atomistic reactive (ReaxFF) molecular dynamics simulations. Our results showed that PopG presents very distinct fracture mechanisms depending on the temperature and direction of the applied stretching. The main fracture dynamics trends are temperature independent and exhibit an abrupt rupture followed by fast crack propagation. The reason for this anisotropy is due to the fact that y-direction stretching leads to a deformation in the shape of the rings that cause the breaking of bonds in the pentagon-octagon and pentagon-pentagon ring connections, which is not observed for the x-direction. PopG is less stiff than graphene membranes, but the Young's modulus value is only 15 % smaller.     

Effect of power-law nonlinearity on ${ \mathcal P }{ \mathcal T }$-symmetric optical system with fourth-order diffraction

Gaussian-type soliton solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation with fourth order dispersion, and power law nonlinearity in the novel parity-time (${ \mathcal P }{ \mathcal T }$)-symmetric quartic Gaussian potential are derived analytically and numerically. The exact analytical expressions of the solutions are obtained in the first two-dimensional (1D and 2D) power law NLS equations. By means of the linear stability analysis, the effect of power law nonlinearity on the stability of Gauss type solitons in different nonlinear media is carried out. Numerical investigations do confirm the stability of our soliton solutions in both focusing and defocusing cases, specially around the propagation parameters.     

Generalization of the Kelvin equation for arbitrarily curved surfaces

Capillary condensation, which takes place in confined geometries, is the first-order vapor-to-liquid phase transition and is explained by the Kelvin equation, but the equation's applicability for arbitrarily curved surface has been long debated and is severe problem. Recently, we have proposed generic dynamic equations for moving surfaces. Application of the equations to the vapor/fluid interfaces in chemical equilibrium conditions nearly trivially solves the generalization problem for the Kelvin equation. The equations are universally true for any surfaces: atomic, molecular, micro or macro scale, real or virtual, Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian, active or passive.     

Development of Pt-Co catalysts supported on carbon nanotubes using the polyol method—tuning the conditions for optimum properties

Pt alloys with transition metals supported on carbon substrates are used as improved cathode electrocatalysts for fuel cells. Enhanced catalytic activity is attributed to the structure (Pt-Pt bond distance) and/or electronic effect (Pt d-electron vacancy). This work focuses on the development of Pt₃Co/f-MWCNT catalysts (functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes [f-MWCNT]) using ethylene glycol as the dispersing and reducing agent. The aim is to in parallel achieve fine dispersion, quantitative deposition and alloy formation. As described herein, the pH value of the reaction suspension has a critical effect on the composition and morphology of the synthesized nanoparticles. High pH values favor the formation of Pt₃Co alloy, nevertheless negatively influencing the dispersion. A discussion is made on the reduction/deposition mechanism and how to control the conditions to result in optimum properties.     

酰胺功能化修饰琼脂糖/硅胶复合材料的制备及吸附性能研究

采用溶胶-凝胶法,以氧化琼脂糖和四甲氧基硅烷为前驱体,通过水解、缩聚反应制得琼脂糖/硅胶复合材料,进一步利用开环、"巯-烯"点击和酰胺化反应对复合材料实现酰胺基团功能化修饰.借助红外光谱(FT-IR)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)对所制备复合材料进行结构、组成和微观形貌表征.以制备的酰胺功能化修饰琼脂糖/硅胶复合材料为吸附剂,探讨其对莱克多巴胺的吸附过程,实验考察了溶剂、吸附时间、莱克多巴胺的初始浓度等对吸附的影响.结果表明:经过修饰反应酰胺基团成功接枝到琼脂糖/硅胶复合材料,该材料颗粒呈球形,粒径在2～3μm之间;复合材料对莱克多巴胺表现出良好的吸附性能,吸附过程50 min达到平衡,适合准二级动力学特征,属化学吸附,吸附等温线符合Freundlich模型;复合材料经过6次吸附解析,再生后对莱克多巴胺的吸附率仅有小幅下降,表明具有较好的循环再生吸附能力.