Crystallization of Arthrobacter sp. strain 1C N-(1-D-carboxyethyl)-L-norvaline dehydrogenase and its complex with NAD+

The novel NAD+-linked opine dehydrogenase from a soil isolate Arthrobacter sp. strain 1C belongs to an enzyme superfamily whose members exhibit quite diverse substrate specificites. Crystals of this opine dehydrogenase, obtained in the presence or absence of co-factor and substrates, have been shown to diffract to beyond 1.8 ? resolution. X-ray precession photographs have established that the crystals belong to space group P21212, with cell parameters a = 104.9, b = 80.0, c = 45.5 ? and a single subunit in the asymmetric unit. The elucidation of the three-dimensional structure of this enzyme will provide a structural framework for this novel class of dehydrogenases to enable a comparison to be made with other enzyme families and also as the basis for mutagenesis experiments directed towards the production of natural and synthetic opine-type compounds containing two chiral centres.     

Utility of certain pi-acceptors for the spectrophotometric determination of some penicillins

Two simple and sensitive spectrophotometric methods are described for the determination of six penicillin derivatives. The methods are based on the reaction of these drugs as n-electron donors with either 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone (DDQ) or 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) as pi-acceptors, to give a highly coloured radical anion. The coloured products are quantified spectrophotometrically at 460 and 842 nm for DDQ and TCNQ, respectively. The optimization of the different experimental conditions is described. The interference from streptomycin sulphate and common degradation products was also studied. The proposed methods were applied successfully to the determination of the different penicillins investigated, either in pure or dosage forms, with good accuracy and precision. The results were compared with those given by the official United States Pharmacopeial XXI method.     

Selective spectrophotometric determination of ascorbic acid in drugs and foods

A new analytical method was developed for the determination of ascorbic acid. The method is based on the reaction of ascorbic acid with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazane (NBD-Cl) in the presence of 0.2M sodium hydroxide, where a bluish green colour (lambda(max) 582 nm) is developed after dilution with 50% (v/v) aqueous acetone solution. Beer's law was obeyed in a concentration range of 5-20 microg ascorbic acid/ml with a good correlation coefficient (r = 0.9990). The method was found to be highly specific for the determination of ascorbic acid in the presence of dehydro-ascorbic acid, all other vitamins and minerals possibly present in multivitamin preparations, rutin, salicylamide, acetyl salicylic acid, paracetamol, caffeine, phenylephrine hydrochloride and dipyrone. Moreover, the proposed procedure was also successfully applied for the determination of ascorbic acid in some canned and fresh fruit juices, some vegetables and infant milk products without interference from coloured and other substances present in the plant extracts.     

Stability-indicating thin-layer chromatographic method for quantitative determination of ribavirin

A simple and accurate stability-indicating thin-layer chromatographic (TLC) method is developed and validated for the quantitative determination of ribavirin (RBV) in its bulk and with used for development consists of chloroform-methanol-acetic acid (60:15:15, v/v/v). The separated spots are visualized as bluish green spots after being sprayed with anisaldehyde reagent. RBV is subjected to different accelerated stress conditions. The drug is found to undergo degradation under all stress conditions, and the degradation products are well resolved from the pure drug with significantly different Rf values. The optical densities of the separated spots are found to be linear with the amount of RBV in the range of 5-40 microg/spot with a good correlation coefficient (r=0.9980). The limit of detection and limit of quantitation values are 1.40 and 4.67 microg/spot, respectively. Statistical analysis proves that the method is repeatable and accurate for the determination of RBV in the presence of its degradation products. The method meets the International Conference on Harmonisation/Food and Drug Administration regulatory requirements. The proposed TLC method is successfully applied for the determination of RBV, pure and in capsules, with good accuracy and precision; the label claim percentages are 98.8%+/-1.5%. The results obtained by the proposed TLC method are comparable with those obtained by the official method.     

Evaluation of N-bromosuccinimide as a new analytical reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of fluoroquinolone antibiotics

Analytical studies were carried out, for the first time, to evaluate the use of N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) as an analytical reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of eleven therapeutically important fluoroquinolone antibiotics (FQA). The procedures involved the reaction of the FQA with NBS and subsequent measurement of the excess NBS by its reaction with p-phenylenediamine (PDA) to give a violet colored product that was measured at 530 nm. Different variables affecting the reaction (concentration of NBS, concentration of PDA, pH of reaction medium, reaction time, and the diluting solvents) were carefully studied and optimized. The molar ratio and mechanism of the reaction between each of the studied FQA with NBS were proposed using UV-vis, IR, and NMR techniques. Under the optimum reaction conditions, the analytical method was developed and validated. Beer's law was obeyed in the general concentration range of 3-25 microg/ml. The assay limits of detection and quantitation were 0.33-1.29 and 1.10-4.31 microg/ml, respectively. The precision of the method was satisfactory; the values of relative standard deviations did not exceed 2%. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of the investigated FQA in their pure and pharmaceutical dosage forms without interference from the common excipients (label claim values were 99.85-100.17+/-0.13-0.59%). Interference from ascorbic acid, that is co-formulated as a stabilizer for the ampoule form, was avoided by its pre-oxidation with potassium bromate before applying the analytical procedure. The results obtained by the proposed method were comparable with those obtained by the official and reported methods.     

A validated spectrofluorometric assay for the determination of certain macrolide antibiotics in pharmaceutical formulations and spiked biological fluids

This paper describes a simple spectrofluorometric method for the analysis of 4 macrolide antibiotics. The method is based on the condensation of 10% (w/v) malonic acid and acetic acid anhydride under the catalytic effect of tertiary amine groups of the studied macrolides. The relative fluorescence intensity of the condensation product was measured at 397/452 nm (excitation/emission) for azithromycin dihydrate and at 392/445 nm (for clarithromycin, erythromycin ethylsuccinate, and roxithromycin. All variables affecting the reaction conditions were studied. The effects of potential interference due to common excipients, such as starch, lactose, sucrose, glucose, gum acacia, and magnesium stearate, as well as trimethoprim and sulfisoxazole acetyl formulated in primomycin capsules and pediazole oral suspension, respectively, were studied. A validation study for the proposed method was carried out according to U.S. Pharmacopeia 2002. The linearity ranges were 3-80 ng/mL for all of the cited macrolides. The limit of detection range was 0.74-1.20 ng/mL, while the limit of quantitation range was 2.47-4.02 ng/mL. The method was applied for the assay of the studied macrolides in pure pharmaceutical formulations and in spiked biological fluids. Results were compared with those obtained from the reported method, where calculated t- and F-values indicated high accuracy and good precision for the proposed method.     

Spectrophotometric study of the charge transfer complexes of some pharmaceutical butyrophenones

The molecular interactions between haloperidol and droperidol as electron donors and each of iodine; 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ); 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ); tetracyanoethylene (TCNE); 2,4,7-trinitro-9-fluorenon (TNF); and 2-3-5-6-tetrabromo-1,4-benzoquinone (Bromanil) as acceptors have been investigated spectrophotometrically. Different variables affecting the reaction were studies and optimized. Beer's law was obeyed in a concentration limit of 2.5-2500 mug ml(-1) for the studied drugs with various acceptors used. Electron affinities (E(A)) of the acceptors were found to correlate with both the time required for maximum colour formation and the molar absorptivities of haloperidol and droperidol. A Job's plot of the absorbance versus the molar ratio of the drugs to iodine indicated 1:1 ratio. The proposed methods were found to be rapid and sensitive and may be applied for estimation of named drugs in pharmaceutical dosage forms without interferences from the common additives encountered. Percentage recoveries ranged from 99.1-102.2%.     

Application of inorganic oxidants to the spectrophotometric determination of ribavirin in bulk and capsules

Eight spectrophotometric methods for determination of ribavirin have been developed and validated. These methods were based on the oxidation of the drug by different inorganic oxidants: ceric ammonium sulfate, potassium permanganate, ammonium molybdate, ammonium metavanidate, chromium trioxide, potassium dichromate, potassium iodate, and potassium periodate. The oxidation reactions were performed in perchloric acid medium for ceric ammonium sulfate and in sulfuric acid medium for the other reagents. With ceric ammonium sulfate and potassium permanganate, the concentration of ribavirin in its samples was determined by measuring the decrease in the absorption intensity of the colored reagents at 315 and 525 nm, respectively. With the other reagents, the concentration of ribavirin was determined by measuring the intensity of the developed colored reaction products at the wavelengths of maximum absorbance: 675, 780, 595, 595, 475, and 475 nm for reactions with ammonium molybdate, ammonium metavanidate, chromium trioxide, potassium dichromate, potassium iodate, and potassium periodate, respectively. Different variables affecting the reaction conditions were carefully studied and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, linear relationships with good correlation coefficients (0.9984-0.9998) were found between the absorbance readings and the concentrations of ribavirin in the range of 4-1400 microg/mL. The molar absorptivities were correlated with the oxidation potential of the oxidants used. The precision of the methods were satisfactory; the values of relative standard deviation did not exceed 1.64%. The proposed methods were successfully applied to the analysis of ribavirin in pure drug material and capsules with good accuracy and precision; the recovery values were 99.2-101.2 +/- 0.48-1.30%. The results obtained using the proposed spectrophotometric methods were comparable with those obtained with the official method stated in the United States Pharmacopeia.     

A selective spectrophotometric method for determination of rosoxacin antibiotic using sodium nitroprusside as a chromogenic reagent

A selective spectrophotometric method for the determination of rosoxacin (ROS), a 4-quinolone antimicrobial agent, has been developed and validated. The method was based on the reaction of ROS with alkaline sodium nitroprusside (SNP) reagent at room temperature forming a red colored chromogen measured at 455 nm. The conditions affecting the reaction (SNP concentration, pH, color-developing time, temperature, diluting solvent and chromogen stability time) were optimized. Under the optimum conditions, good linear relationship (r=0.9987) was obtained between the absorbance and the concentration of ROS in the range of 20-50 microg ml(-1). The assay limits of detection and quantitation were 2.5 and 8.4 microg ml(-1), respectively. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of bulk drug and laboratory-prepared tablets; the mean percentage recoveries were 100.1+/-0.33 and 101.24+/-1.28%, respectively. The results were compared favourably with those obtained by the reported method; no significant difference in the accuracy and precision as revealed by the accepted values of t- and F-tests, respectively. The robustness and ruggedness of the method was checked and satisfactory results were obtained. The proposed method was found to be highly selective for ROS among the fluoroquinolone antibiotics. The reaction mechanism was proposed and it proceeded in two steps; the formation of nitroferrocyanide by the action of sodium hydroxide alkalinity on SNP and the subsequent formation of the colored nitrosyl-ROS derivative by the attack at position 6 of ROS.